High Noon
by jandco
Summary: "High Noon" is our version of what happens after the end of "Eclipse," co-written with Jennyfly.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

_**Stink City**_

I ran until it was quiet enough for me to be sure I was the only one around for at least a hundred miles.

And then I ran some more.

I never got tired, but I stopped to drink from waterfalls and steam rose from my tongue when I drank the cold water. When it was daylight I ran in shadows; at night I ran across tundra. I was east of the Canadian Rockies before I consciously realized where I was running to—and that I wasn't running _from_ anything at all.

Stupid vampires would make themselves good for _something_.

When I was laid up pretending to recover from my pretend injuries sustained in that pretend motorcycle accident- injuries inflicted by a newborn vampire, injuries that healed long before I could reasonably be seen without the casts on- I watched a lot of movies. In one of them, I heard a phrase that struck a chord with me: The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Edward Cullen was my enemy. He planned on killing the love of my whole fricking life. I was running to the one place I could think of finding someone who might stop him and his whole blood sucking family.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

I'd stop him myself except for two things: One, there was a treaty that I didn't want to be the one to break. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if any of the Pack lost their lives because I got them mixed up in another vampire war. And two, Bella might never forgive me if I was the one who killed her undead ancient boyfriend.

So, I ran.

After several days, I smelled an ocean that was nothing like _my_ ocean on a beach that was nothing like La Push. I decided it would be easier to stow away if I were smaller than a house, so regretfully I phased back to two legs when it was so dark I was sure no one would see if anyone were there at all.

I was hoping to hop a ship that would go to Italy, but since I don't speak Italian I miscalculated slightly and ended up in Lisbon after several days in a really smelly, wobbly lifeboat. Luckily I never got tired or cold, and even though I did get hungry I was able to hold out for the moments when the whole ship would go quiet and I could slip all super-stealth into the galley. Some of that stuff tasted terrible but, since wolves are less picky about flavors, I figured out that phasing to eat was my best bet. The only guy who thought he saw me was so drunk at the time that all he did was run away and pray.

From Portugal I ran to Italy in no time. I never realized how small Europe was, or how big North America was depending how you look at it. But I covered several countries in little more than a day, only stopping to hide out when I hit more-populated areas.

The trouble with Italy was finding the place I'd heard Bella talking about with the bloodsucker.

After she took off to rescue her precious Edward, I looked the town up on a map so I knew more or less how far south it was. But all the hills and towns started looking exactly the same so I had to resort to skulking around roadways in order to check out signs and road markers.

Turns out I shouldn't have worried. I could smell the place from about fifty miles out.

I circled the city for a few hours before I could calm down enough to phase to human. I knew better than to gallop in there as a giant wolf. All I had on me was a crappy pair of shorts as old as I was that I'd found lying around on the boat. But Italy was warm enough and the people I saw were total sun worshippers, so by a stroke of luck I didn't stand out too badly.

Except that I couldn't keep the snarl off my face from having to breathe that foul sickly sweet stench.

I was getting closer to my enemy's enemy.

I just followed my nose to the most pungent source of stink and ended up at this huge building that said '_Uffizi Municipali'_ with big carved doors and gargoyles and stuff all over it.

It looked like a public building.

Like I could just walk right in.

And die.

Instead of that, I decided to first scope out any possible escape routes around back. The trouble was, since the whole place reeked, I didn't notice straight away that I was being followed. It was just my luck that I was at the dead end of an alley when I heard two sets footsteps.

"You are American, I think." The guy who spoke to me was big, but not quite as big as me. I couldn't see his face because he wore a really silly Dracula cape with a hood.

"Good guess," I answered, sizing the two of them up and looking for a way around them.

"I've smelled your kind before," he replied.

"Uh huh. I've smelled yours too," I said. I wanted them to know I was no stranger to this crap.

It was full daylight out, and I noticed that even with the Halloween capes the guys stuck to the shadows that stretched out from the ancient-looking wall beside us.

"You've come to satisfy Aro's curiosity?" he asked as they broke rank and subtly shifted into a flanking formation that pinned me in.

Awesome. So far, things were not going to plan.

Now,the name Arrow was familiar. Bella's little leech friend had mentioned that name, must be their Alpha or whatever they call it, so I figured at least I must have found the right group of Dracula-channeling goons.

The sunlight that slanted in over the old wall hit the side of the building and went all the way down the length of the alley without interruption.

That meant I was backed against the exterior wall that ran around the boundary of the city itself. One jump and easy escape if my next words didn't go over well.

"I came to make Arrow an offer he can't refuse." I stood my ground and looked straight at them now that I had a decent plan.

"Is that so?" a high-pitched girly voice joined in just before the bloodsuckers jumped me and tazed me and kicked me and beat me and burned me all at once.

At least that's what it felt like, and it went on forever. Except when I opened my eyes and looked up from where I'd fallen, the sunlight hadn't receded any from the wall; the two bloodsucking goons hadn't budged; and the owner of the girly voice was just landing lightly on her feet beside her pals. I looked down at my body, expecting blood and burns, but there wasn't a mark, and there wasn't any pain.

It was freaking weird.

I guessed it was one of those creepy vampire things, like Edward picking through minds or the black haired corpse seeing the future.

I looked up over the vampires' heads and saw an open window about two stories up.

That must've been where she came from.

"I knew I smelled something foul," she said. "What are you?"

"Look," I breathed, trying to keep my voice steady as I got back on my feet. "Edward Cullen came here three months ago to die."

Three pairs of red eyes watched me steadily. I was almost fully twice as tall as the girl, but still, she creeped me out.

"My friend Bella came here and somehow stopped Arrow from killing him." I kept an eye on those three faces, gauging the level of danger I was stepping into. So far I could tell they were listening.

"So. Edward's not dead—well, not any deader than he was before—" The hairs on the back of my neck all stood up, and if I thought the stench couldn't get any worse, I was wrong. My eyes darted around the alley and caught the cautious approach of six more bloodsuckers. The time for talk was about up. Not much made me uneasy, but being in an alley outnumbered by pseudo zombies was enough to do the trick.

"And I'm pretty sure we all want the same thing here. Or one of the same things. So I suggest you let Arrow know I'm here," I finished with much more bravado in my voice than Bella's prissy fiancé ever could have managed.

"I'm sure he smelled you already," one of them said.

"We smelled it from the piazza and came to see what it was," said another.

My body vibrated. I took deep breaths to maintain control just a little longer.

That's when the smallest one, the girl, approached me. She just took normal human-like steps. She had no fear. None. The playing field was so uneven—this wouldn't even be a fight.

"Now, now." She scolded, and everyone quieted.

That's when I knew that the creepy vamp power—the thing that made me feel beaten and burnt—that was her.

"Don't be rude to our guest. I'm sure he has a name."

She stepped right up to me, and dropped her hood.

I swallowed about thirty times a second to keep from growling.

"The name's Black. Jacob Black." I'd always wanted to say that.

Her eyes were the reddest thing I'd ever seen. Like shining rubies. Instinctively, I knew two things from this. The first was that she was very well-fed. The second was that she only ate humans.

"Well, Jacob Black—friend of Bella—" she said in her scary sweet voice just two feet from me, "I'm afraid Aro is expecting his dinner. You may have passed the tour bus from Sienna on your way here?" She raised her eyebrows expectantly, taunting me.

I studied her evil little face. She looked like one of those history-book paintings of an angel.

Some of her gang chuckled at her joke and she turned her shoulders slightly to direct my attention to them—to not-so-subtly remind me that there were nine vampires facing me.

And I had my back to the wall.

"Sorry," I replied, since she seemed to be waiting for me to play along. "I took the scenic route."

"Ah, well, never mind." Her hand went to her throat where her tiny fingers tapped against a locket engraved with a fancy letter V. We were both playing cool, but she was kicking my ass at it. "I'm happy to escort you to our comfortable waiting room."

No way.

If I followed this little monster to some torture cellar, I'd never get out.

I squared my shoulders. "No thanks. I have a feeling Arrow knows where to find me. If he's still interested in ending Cullen… he'll find me."

With that I just took a deep breath and stopped fighting against the phase.

Just like with the newborns back in Forks last month, the vamps all froze for a second on first sight of the wolf. And one second was all I needed to get over that wall.

As I beat feet away from Creep City, I listened for them to follow me, but there was nothing. Nothing but a bit of confused chatter. I slowed down a little to hear when I realized I wasn't even being followed.

"A child of the moon!"

"—smells nothing like the ones I tracked through..."

"It wouldn't do for us to break the law and run into the sunlight."

"—must follow!"

"Children of the moon cannot change during..."

"—full moon is over a week away…"

"Like he said, Aro knows where to find him."

"—does not resemble any werewolf I have seen."

"…smelled many of their kind with the Cullen coven."

Then their voices were drowned out by the heavy rumbling noise of a diesel engine straining up the winding roadway on the hill just below me.

The tour bus.

I didn't even have to think about it. I just jumped.

I guess you could say luck was on my side in the fact that the driver seemed to be having trouble with the gears. The bus was crawling and all the passengers had the shades pulled down on the windows because of the bright sun beating in at an angle.

No one saw me.

All it took was a couple of snaps before I got one of the tires to blow out. I stayed right on that rear axle until the driver managed to brake without sliding off the road.

Stopping the bus was only half the problem. Those people would call the city and get some other transportation. I wanted to tell them to just turn around.

I paced back and forth just out of sight along the road to the evilest city on earth.

I wanted scream and curse! It wasn't fair! Vampires shouldn't exist in the first place, but they sure as hell shouldn't have an entire city where they bus innocent tourists in as dinner!

And to think I'd just walked right in there.

Well. Still. I also walked out. Or jumped, if you want to be picky.

And I spoiled the entree.

That was _something_.

I mean, the bottom line was still that vampires just wanted to kill but I wanted so much more than that.

So I had no choice but to quit moping and get back home.

Because the only thing worse than _that_ city would be to see Bella turned into one of _them_.

*_Chapter two of this story is already posted on a different forest (dot) com._

**This story wouldn't have been possible if not for the patience, skill and time Emibella so graciously put in.**

**Many thanks to Tor for the artwork for High Noon which is featured on ADF.**


	2. Chapter 2

_Follow High Noon on twitter for special sneak peeks, update info, and get to know other readers._ **twitter(dot)com/HighNoon_**

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**I drove Edward's silver Volvo right up to the Cullens' garage, and before I even had my seatbelt off Edward was there pulling my car door open.

"Hello—"

"A policeman stopped me today in Port Angeles." I said, cutting him off and stepping out of the car.

Edward's smooth brow creased in the middle and his topaz eyes flashed dark for a moment.

"Did someone try to hurt you? Are you okay?" he asked, his voice quick and low with unbridled anxiety. Without preamble he took the heavy bag I was trying to settle on my shoulder as if it weighed nothing.

"No, Edward, don't be dramatic." My fingertips smoothed across the front of his shirt. I'd noticed of late that my hands frequently just reached out to him of their own accord, and the feel of him made me somehow relaxed and tense at the same time. "I was just going to tell you that I was informed _this_ _car_," I said, jerking my thumb over my shoulder to point at it, "was called in by the Volvo dealership for having its GPS activated by an unauthorized party."

Edward's shoulder sank a fraction of an inch, and my fingertips against his shirt pocket noticed the slight release of tension. "I didn't tell you because you've never been particularly interested in automobile features," he said, too innocently.

I raised one eyebrow at him, but my attempt to be annoyed was futile as his mouth twitched into a lopsided grin and his eyes turned warm and playful. I lifted my chin in a not-so-subtle hint for a kiss, but Edward pretended to be very interested in the contents of my bag.

"You had a successful shopping trip?"

He pulled a few books out, one at a time.

"I don't understand why you wanted me to buy the books on the freshman reading list when we both know I won't be attending classes."

He held up Shelley's _Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus_. "Because the only two things on earth tedious enough to make someone read nineteenth-century literature are freshman English teachers and immortality. Either way, you'll eventually need this."

"Snob." I rolled my eyes at his joke as he put the books back into my satchel. But when Edward gently picked up my hand and let one of his cool fingertips stroke my wrist, I sighed and silently forgave him for stalling our physical contact.

Like a formless pile of iron shavings being pulled forward into a cohesive shape by a magnet, I stepped into him and he quickly dropped my wrist and put his strong arms around my waist. I inhaled deeply against his shirt and closed my eyes to savor the sweet intoxication while he likewise took in my scent, though I knew to him the sensation had a deeper meaning. For Edward, this subtle sniff was at once predatory and informative.

As I felt his cool breath shift my hair, I wondered if he could tell everything I'd eaten, everywhere I'd been, and how I'd initially panicked when the cop asked for my license and registration.

We were silent for a few moments before I felt his stone lips softly rest at the top of my head.

Though the kiss was annoyingly chaste, my heart rate quickened; and even if he didn't tense or move away, I noticed he did stop breathing. My scent,heightened somehow by my ever-more rapacious desire for him, was starting to test his restraint. I hated being the source of pain, however "tolerable" or slight for Edward. Even if he insisted he was (for the most part) over the intense thirst for my blood, there was no point in allowing things turn painful for him.

"_GPS_?" I groaned out, offering him a distraction. "You're tracking me? _Seriously_?"

Instead of making defensive excuses Edward chuckled softly near my ear, and his musical laugh made me shiver in dizzy delight. "You refused my offer to let me chauffeur you."

"I agreed to drive the so-called _safest_ car in the armada. I don't need a bodyguard."

"I can never be too careful with you, Bella. If it makes it easier to tolerate, remind yourself that you are my life. If something were to happen to you, it would destroy me just the same."

I couldn't roll my eyes or refute this because I knew just what he meant. I felt the same way about him.

"But," he said, releasing my body and taking my hand, "the extra precautions won't be forever. You'll get your other car as soon as you're… less breakable."

I squeezed his hands as we walked toward the open garage where the other car he mentioned loomed, completely covered under a tarp. Just as I had tried to act more responsibly with regards to _tempting_ him, as he put it, I'd noticed that Edward was making an effort to embrace my decision to give up my _human_ weaknesses in order to be with him.

"Let me guess_. GPS_, lasers, and body armor?" I joked.

"I wanted this to be a surprise," he said, ignoring my sulky remark. "A kind of wedding gift, but since we're on the subject of cars anyway…"

"You know, cars, houses, gifts and surprises—Edward." I shrugged to illustrate how little I cared for his material wealth. "All I really want is you. Forever," I said.

"And you have that, my love. There's nothing wrong with letting me and my family have fun with surprises while we still can." One cold fingertip tapped my chin. "Stop frowning, by the way. I have a feeling you'll like this surprise."

"Okay," I said stiffly. Edward let go of my hand and approached the tarp just as three very fast, very graceful vampires appeared in the garage, fresh from hunting.

"I can't believe you were going to show her without us here. You promised!" Alice scolded in a voice too sweet to sound accusing.

I smiled at three of Edward's siblings. Alice, Emmett and Rosalie had seemingly come from nowhere, but I knew they must have emerged from the forest. Not a hair out of place on any of their beautiful heads, no one would ever have guessed they were only seconds ago hunting wild game with their bare hands and teeth.

"Yet you made it on time anyway," Edward said, agitated annoyance coloring his tone.

"We wouldn't miss it," Emmett's big voice echoed on the walls of the garage. "She'll probably trip over herself in excitement."

I made no effort to hide my scowl from Emmett, but he deflected it with a boom of laughter.

"Well, now that everyone is gathered," Edward muttered and Alice skipped over to the looming, covered mass, taking two fistfuls of the tarp.

I looked at their exquisite faces,full of hopeful excitement and decided I'd work very hard to muster up some enthusiasm for whatever was under that tarp. The trouble was: a brand new Porsche or Lamborghini didn't mean all that much to me—not when I already had everything I'd ever dreamed of, and a few things I'd never even thought possible.

"Okay, okay, get on with it," Emmett said, his excitement a stark contrast next to his wife, Rosalie. The entire time she'd just stood there, her arms crossed over her chest, waiting patiently and silently.

With barely a flick of Alice's wrists the tarp flew back and feathered gracefully up in the air, and I saw it.

One hand clapped over my mouth, and I instantly felt Edward's arm around my waist.

"Do you like it?" he asked pensively and quietly in my ear when I didn't move or say a word.

Like it?

I _loved_ it.

Right there, in the Cullens' garage, was _my_ old red truck. Except it shone like a model on the showroom floor. Even with my amateur eye, I could see the outside had been completely restored to mint condition. The rust was gone, the grill shiny, and the paint a bright, alive, vibrant red.

"I…you," I gasped at Edward. "I _knew_ it gave out on me way too conveniently!"

"I might have had something to do with the engine failure," Edward chuckled.

"We killed her," Alice's voice chimed, "but only so we could bring her back stronger."

"Technically, Rosalie revived her," Edward said. "She did the entire restoration by herself."

I looked to Rosalie, whose expression hadn't changed at all. She just stood there with Emmett's arm around her tense, stone shoulders.

"Thank you, Rosalie," I said warmly. "This means… well, it means very much to me."

It did mean a lot to me. I'd already accepted the fact that I would be very different after I was changed; at first, anyway. But having the truck, _my_ truck, instead of a fancy speed machine felt like I could maybe carry a little piece of the human me into the life of the vampire me. The fact that Edward knew how much this would mean to me made my smile genuine and unstoppable.

"I enjoyed the work. The truck is a classic," Rosalie said, and I noticed Emmett's arm give her a little jostle. "You're welcome," she finished shortly.

"Now let's take this baby on a drive," Emmett said, and he somehow produced the keys. He held them aloft so they swung like a pendulum in front of his face.

"Not… quite yet. I think Bella might like a minute to get reacquainted with her truck," Edward said and held his hand out for the keys. "If Bella agrees, yes, you'll have the chance," he added, clearly reading Emmett's mind.

"I'm glad you love it," Alice said, and leaned in to press her cold lips to my cheek. "Happy late engagement and welcome to the family."

And just like that, she danced off to wherever it was she had appeared from with Rosalie and Emmett following in her wake.

In tentative awe and hearty excitement, I approached the truck while Edward stood back, letting me take it in. My fingertips dragged smoothly down the slick, shiny paint.

"Is the inside—the engine and things, all new, too?" I asked softly, and already I felt the familiar lump rise in my throat.

"Yes," Edward answered in a breath. Even though he couldn't read my mind, I knew he knew what I was thinking of at that moment.

That a certain mechanic would love to have seen this. My best friend would have loved to have had the chance and resources to restore the truck this way.

I nodded slowly and peered into a window at the brand new upholstery and updated dashboard, free of the damage I'd inflicted the year before. It now sported a decidedly expensive-looking panel of buttons where the old AM radio had once been. I wondered where the stereo speakers were concealed.

"Thank you, Edward," I said.

"You're welcome. I know how much you love this particular truck. I thought maybe it would help reassure you that you'll still be _you_. And Bella?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sure Jacob would appreciate this truck, too."

At the sound of Jacob's name on Edward's lips I turned on my heel swiftly and blinked up at Edward, who was watching me with a patient, sympathetic smile on his face.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I still worry about him."

"Don't be sorry; never be sorry for being a caring person. I understand that Jacob Black… means a great deal to you, and I still need you to know that all of these plans aren't set in stone—"

"Edward, don't—" I started to cut him off but he interrupted me again, unfazed.

"Nothing is final yet, Bella. You can still change your mind at any time. I don't want you to feel like immortality is inevitable for you. You can still—"

"Edward, stop it," I said, stamping my foot like a five-year-old for emphasis. He looked slightly amused by this, but stopped talking and listened to me. "I _love_ you. I _more_ than love you. Of course immortality is inevitable for me, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Sure, I worry about Jacob, but _nothing—_no feeling or person in the world—would ever be enough to keep me from being with you for eternity. So stop it," I ranted while his expression changed in lightening flashes at the word love and the word inevitable.

"If you knew what you were saying, Bella…"

"I _do_ know what I'm saying. Just now, when Alice was here, she said something that rang true. Please repeat the words she said," I demanded, and he looked at me suspiciously for a moment while his perfect memory easily ran through all that Alice had said. When he came across the one sentence I was searching for, understanding shaded his features and he rolled his eyes.

"Well? Say it," I insisted.

"We killed her, but only so we could bring her back stronger," Edward muttered. "Comparing yourself to a vehicle is ridiculous, Bella."

"You're not taking my life— or my soul. You're giving me the best and only thing I've ever truly wanted. So _you_ stop being ridiculous," I huffed, pointing a finger at him.

He quickly caught my left hand and smiled while he brought it to his lips. For a moment we both looked at the diamond ring at home on my third finger.

"How about we end this ridiculous conversation," he said, then turned my hand over and kissed my palm. "We have better things to do."

"I don't think it's ridiculous," I murmured.

With his chin down, he peered at me through his thick, dark lashes, and I became aware that my lips parted slightly and my breathing became rapid as I curved my hand around his jaw and brought his lips to mine.

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_**Author's Note:**_

_Thank you so much for reading. I know many of you have already made the journey over to adifferentforest(dot)com where we have already posted seven chapters of this story. It only takes a moment to register with the site and you can continue reading! Also follow this story on twitter for special extras_ **twitter(dot)com/HighNoon_** _I hope to see you there!_


	3. Chapter 3

"You are going to be the most beautiful bride I have ever seen," Alice said, sticking pins into the bottom hem of my dress.

I snorted my skepticism. I knew for a fact Alice had seen Rosalie as a bride numerous times, and my plain looks couldn't even pretend to rival hers.

"Don't doubt me, Bella. It's insulting," Alice trilled. "On a serious note, Emmett secured a helicopter, so that's taken care of."

"Oh. Good," I uttered, and my mind went to that surreal place it seemed to travel to so often lately. Logically, I knew these plans. I knew what I was about to do, and I knew it was what I wanted more than anything. But when I thought of Charlie, Renee and… Jacob, it was just easier to focus on Edward and our eternity rather than the plans that would get us there.

The plans that I knew would leave the people I loved broken-hearted.

I told Charlie weeks ago that Edward was close to receiving his pilot's license—not far-fetched, as the Cullen family is known for such extravagances. I wasn't surprised when Edward first mentioned this detail; he could, after all, fly an airplane.

I carefully gauged the pulsing vein in Charlie's temple when I rambled on about how Edward would be flying us in a rented helicopter to Alaska, a wedding gift from Carlisle and Esme. When he didn't have a heart attack, I began mentioning it randomly during dinner or before turning in at night.

While Charlie and everyone else believed the plan was to fly to Alaska for a ten day honeymoon, the Cullens had been working on the actual plan. Edward and I were indeed going to go to Alaska, and seven days after we'd had our actual _honeymoon_ in the traditional sense that Edward had promised, the rest of the family would join us and then my forever would begin.

"Emmett is thrilled. His excitement has been driving poor Jasper mad," Alice said purposefully flippant, sensing the ache in my heart for my family.

"I'm glad he's looking forward to it," I said as Alice gently tugged at the lace of my skirt.

Emmett had been put in charge of wreckage detail. Our rented helicopter would disappear from radar and all that would be left would be debris, courtesy of Emmett. Of course, the grieving Cullen family would choose to leave Forks as soon as possible. When they took off for Alaska, it wouldn't seem abnormal. No one would question how they cope with grief.

And that would be that.

It all seemed simple, cut and dried, and I supposed on paper it was just that. Those details were the easy part of this.

"Charlie will be okay," Alice said quietly, a gentle hum floating up to me. "His friends will be an excellent support system. And Bella, he _will_ get through this."

I confidently nodded then shifted my weight from foot to foot.

"Okay, okay, we're done," Alice said, straightening to her full, diminutive height. "Go, be with Edward, but make sure you get a good night's sleep. There is only so much I can do for bags under your eyes."

"Thank you, Alice," I said as she quickly unfastened the hundred buttons down the back of the dress.

"Don't thank me, Bella. This is what sisters are for."

I smiled at the sound of that, and the ache in my heart was somewhat soothed. As hard as it would be to say goodbye to my human family, I was able to take solace in the fact that I already loved and was loved by my soon-to-be immortal family.

Despite Alice's warning, I was still awake late into the night. I lay in my bed in the frigid, strong circle of Edward's arms and lightly used my fingertips to trace the plains of his bare chest. I lowered my face and let my lips kiss all of the places my fingers had just been.

"Bella," Edward sighed my name softly, and I felt his fingers twist gently into my hair.

"Hmm?" I hummed back, lost in wonder and incoherency I often experienced when it was just the two of us.

His fingers slipped from my hair and, with disorienting speed I was pulled up until my lips were against his. I worked my legs over his frantically as if I could somehow pin him down and keep him there forever, and he let me. Edward could never be held in place by me, or by one hundred people for that matter, but he always let me do this. Like it was his way of saying he was mine.

We kissed and touched and pulled at one another until I panted against his warming mouth, heavy and ragged. He turned his face and slipped one finger over my lips. I groaned in protest and he looked up at me with a weary grin.

"You're driving me crazy," he said.

"Oh!" I said in surprise. He'd hunted earlier in the day, and lately he hadn't been showing much sign of struggle when we were physically close. Of course, he'd try to hide that from me anyway.

"In a very _human_ way," Edward chuckled when he saw the guilt wash over my face.

"Well," I smiled, "then that's not such an awful thing. Is it?"

"Considering it's the night _before_ our wedding I think it is," he murmured into my hair while his hands glided over my back in opposing figure-eights. It felt like he was finger-painting butterfly wings over my tee-shirt.

"Edward," I said, pressing my lips to his jaw, "we're as good as married. Maybe this will help calm our nerves."

"I'm not nervous about marrying you, Bella. It's the one thing I'll ever do that I'm _sure_ is right."

I didn't like his implication that changing me might not be the right thing.

"Stop that. All of our compromises are perfectly in place, Edward."

"Fair enough. Yet that is precisely why you need to stop driving me mad with those perfect lips. I will make good on my promises, _all_ of them, _after_ we're married."

"And I will make good on mine and marry you," I said, as he shifted me off of him and tucked me into the crook of his arm.

"Is marrying me so awful, Bella?"

"No! Of course not… It's more the actual wedding that is making me nervous now. I saw a suspicious pair of white high heels in Alice's closet earlier."

"I'd never let you fall, but if you like, I can keep Alice quiet and you can walk down the aisle in bare feet for all I care, so long as you're there."

"I'll be wherever you are. Forever," I said while dreamily tracing the elegant angle of his jaw with my adoring gaze.

"Forever," Edward repeated. "Now, Alice made some serious threats that I don't doubt she'll make good on if you don't get a decent night's sleep."

"I don't think I could sleep if I tri—"

"Close your eyes," Edward whispered in a rush and he disappeared from my bed, just as my bedroom door creaked open.

I wasn't sure where Edward disappeared to, in the closet or under my bed, but I was sure he was out of sight, so instead of feigning sleep I whispered a hello to Charlie.

I knew tomorrow would be filled with rushed chaos and too many people and not enough time, and there were things I needed to say to Charlie before I married Edward… before I disappeared from my father's life.

"Not asleep yet, kiddo?" Charlie asked softly and I sat up a bit on my pillows.

"I can't," I said.

"Nervous? You know, if you're having second thoughts, nobody is going to be mad if you decide to call this whole thing off or—"

"_Dad_. Of course not. I _want_ to marry Edward," I said, conviction strong in my voice.

"Okay, okay," Charlie said.

He wandered into my room and fumbled with the pencil holder on my desk.

"How about you? Are you ready to put on that monkey suit and hand me off?" I asked, trying to smile.

"I'm ready," Charlie said just before the feeble smile faded from his face. "You know, Bells, you always have a home here. I know that sometimes things don't work out the way you think they will, and no matter what happens, you have a home here with your old man."

My mind briefly flickered to my mother, and how things didn't work out for my parents the way Charlie must've thought they would at one point.

"Thanks for the faith, Charlie. You're already thinking about the divorce?" I joked, suddenly trying to fight back the lump growing in my throat.

I'd never be able to come back here.

"Not anticipating it," Charlie said, "just… letting you know."

"I appreciate the offer but, trust me, it won't be necessary. Edward and I are going to be very happy together. Forever."

"I sure hope so, Bella. You make sure he takes good care of you, got it?"

I rolled my eyes but nodded and Charlie nodded back.

"Okay, now you get some rest. You have a big day ahead of you tomorrow," Charlie said, then turned back to the door.

"Hey, Dad?" I called out quickly.

He turned and looked at me expectantly. The yellow light from the incandescent bulb in the hallway cast a warm glow over his features while simultaneously deepening the creases that had taken hold around his eyes and mouth. I wanted to memorize his face just like that. I took a deep breath and shakily let it out, then stared at my hands, willing myself to say what I needed to say without bursting into tears.

"I'm really glad I came to live here. And not just because I met Edward, but because it was really nice, getting to know you better."

I glanced up at the end of my short, soul-bearing speech. I watched a rare wave of emotion crest and break over his features as he made a slow rotation away from the open door.

"I'm glad, too, Bella. Thanks for taking care of your old dad for a while. I don't know what I'm going to do without you now. I got spoiled with home cooked meals," he grinned bravely, but my face started to crumple. "Hey, hey, it was a joke. I'll be just fine."

"I know," I said hoarsely, "you'll be just fine."

In three strides Charlie crossed the room then awkwardly kissed the top of my head. Up close he looked younger. Even though the past month had aged him, despite being there for Billy since Jake left and being there for Sue since Harry died, with the light behind him the few gray hairs in his mustache were completely obscured.

"Get some sleep, Bells." He rose again quickly but looked back over his shoulder on the way out, subconsciously beckoning me to stop him once more—to prolong our last father-daughter moment.

On impulse, I reached into the darkness at that silent invitation. "Dad?" The words about to come out of my mouth were not premeditated. At all. It was an impetuous move, but it felt right.

So when Charlie paused and kind of tensed up in the doorway, bracing himself for whatever I'd say next- right after thinking he was off the hook with the mushy stuff- well, I knew I had to spit it out. After all, in the years since my world had been filled with vampires and werewolves and ancient grudges and secret rules impetuosity had paid off for me.

"Yeah, Bells?"

"I- I'm sorry."

Charlie turned full around to face me again and took a step deeper into the room. If he stared at me like that, the dam holding back the tears would burst and they'd never stop.

I looked away, and he unfroze and crossed back over to my bed. I felt the mattress dip as I sniffled, and my father awkwardly patted my shoulder. "What for? What on earth do you have to be sorry about? You weren't lying about being in trouble, were you?"

I held my breath for a moment as I processed the question. There was a stopwatch attached to my heartbeats, counting down- I didn't know how fast, but I didn't think of that as being in trouble at all. But, oh. Oh!

_Trouble_.

"Noooo!" I spluttered at him. "We're still waiting until after the wedding."

He sort of grimaced and nodded and bounced his palm against my arm again.

I sat up, buoyed with strength by his worst-case-scenario freak out. "I'm sorry I gave you so much to worry about. I'm sorry about disappearing for three days, and threatening to move out when you were just... being a dad, and I'm sorry I couldn't love someone that you like better." I couldn't keep talking because my voice was getting shaky, and I didn't want to panic him with more girly emotion.

His face scrunched up and he grabbed both my shoulders in his strong, calloused hands. "Oh, Bells." He shook his head. "Isabella Marie Swan, I'm so proud of you. I'm proud to have a daughter who stands up for herself and knows what she wants and isn't afraid to make her own dreams come true. I never got to know that side of you during those summer vacations we spent together. I didn't know what you were like... I guess I thought you were a brown-eyed version of your mother." We both sort of laughed at the ridiculousness of that. "But you're not. You're savvy and strong and beautiful. And you're the best daughter a guy like me could ever hope for."

I could tell Charlie was doing his best to keep his face stoic and not get misty over our conversation, but he needn't have bothered because at that point because I just lost it. Tears gushed from my eyes, blinding me to everything, and all I could do was hug my dad fiercely. He hugged me back, and we said more to each other in that one long tight squeeze than we'd said in the two years previous to that day.

I held my breath and swallowed back the onslaught of tears—both for his sake and Edward's. As much as I knew Charlie was eager to escape my outburst, I knew Edward was close by and anxious to do his part to calm me down.

"Okay. I love you Ch-_Dad_. I love you Dad."

He stood and ruffled my hair like some kind of sit-com dad with a smart-mouthed ten-year-old. "I love ya, kiddo. See you in the morning." He hummed the Wedding March in an awkward attempt to lighten the mood then chuckled to himself all the way down the hall, while I sniffled quietly.

Edward appeared and quickly wrapped his arms around me and let me cry into his bare shoulder.

"Shhh," he murmured comfortingly into my hair and rubbed light circles on my back until my soft cries faded out. I pressed my mouth against his stony flesh and breathed the solace offered by his scent.

"Bella, if it's too hard right now, we can wait," he whispered after some time.

"No! You promised," I whispered back, fiercer than I intended.

"I didn't say I was backing out, I said we can hold it off."

"It won't ever get easier to say goodbye," I reasoned.

"Well, then maybe…"

"Stop it. I still want this, so stop trying to convince me when you think my defenses are down."

Edward laughed quietly at this and mumbled something about stubbornness, then his soft voice turned into a softer hum and at some point, I fell asleep right there, on his cold, hard skin—which somehow bought more peace and comfort than any warm, soft bed.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Follow High Noon on twitter: HighNoon_

There are already EIGHT WHOLE CHAPTERS of this story posted over at www[dot]adifferentforest[dot]com in the Storytelling section. Look for my name (jandco) and a beautiful icon of Robert to click for a full listing of my stories. It only takes a moment to register at A Different Forest, and reviewing there is wonderfully simple too!


	4. Chapter 4

Edward must've slipped out at some point because when my eyes opened in the morning, he was gone. But I wasn't alone.

"Finally! Your mother's flight gets in at noon, and you have to shower so I can get your hair blown out by at least ten. I left an apricot scrub in the bathroom, use it."

"I… good morning Alice?" I mumbled and wiped sleep away from my eyes.

"That's right! Rise and shine almost-sister, it's the best day of your life, you don't want to miss another minute of it."

Her words cleared my muddled, hazy mind and I found myself fighting a smile when I thought of Edward.

"Did you speak to Edward today?" I asked, sitting up.

"No, he's still out with Emmett and Jasper doing their bachelor thing," Alice said, tugging open my closet door. She pulled out a button-up shirt and tossed it on my bed. "So we don't mess up your hair when you change into your dress."

"Bachelor thing," I grumbled.

"Relax. Hunting and some boy talk. As if Edward even _sees _any other females," Alice said, rolling her eyes.

After I'd showered and Alice yanked on my hair with a comb and strange brush and a blow-dryer, and after I was re-assured that my mother and Phil would be promptly picked up at the airport, I was tucked into her car and she drove us both to the Cullen house because, as Alice said, she works better in her own environment.

"Close your eyes," she instructed, then took my hand in hers and led me up the stairs to her bathroom where I was seated so she could get to my hair.

Now, when I say bathroom I don't mean a room for bathing and using the toilet. This room was bigger than my bedroom at Charlie's house, and even had something called a 'reclining bench' in a color called '_aubergine_' inside it. The whole room appeared to be covered from floor-to-ceiling in marble—except for the one wall of deep counter space interrupted only by a copper sink and then crowned by a brilliantly lit mirror.

There was a glass enclosure to one side with an elaborate looking shower, and beyond it, a massive claw-footed porcelain tub lorded over the room. On the opposite end of the so-called bathroom was a door that Alice said led to the 'WC'. Later, when I told her I needed a human moment, I found out that 'WC' meant toilet. There was also another contraption in there that she identified for me as a bidet after I asked. When I wondered aloud what vampires use a bidet for, she told me that Jasper likes to wash his socks in it.

Alice worked quickly with pins and a curling iron while I silently contemplated the impending discomfort involved in being the center of the entire town's attention.

Just as Alice switched off the curling iron, there was a tap on the door. When it opened, Esme and Rosalie both entered.

Esme looked elegant and crisp in a light blue gown, her caramel hair cascading in soft waves over her shoulders. The dress hugged her curves gracefully and my mouth hung open a bit as I wondered how anyone actually bought the story that she was the mother of five teenagers, adopted or not.

Rosalie turned to the mirror and looked at her own reflection for a few moments, and from my spot on Alice's vanity bench, I admired her reflection as well.

Her cornsilk hair was pulled back and coiled at the nape of her neck. Her champagne colored dress looked like it was tailored just for her every curve. She tipped her chin down, then up and I was momentarily mesmerized by her high cheekbones. I watched as Rosalie quickly ran her tongue over her startlingly white, sharp teeth then smiled at her own reflection.

I instantly felt my shoulders sag and my body shrink back.

How was I supposed to feel even moderately pretty with Rosalie walking around?

"Sit up Bella, we're not done yet," Alice said.

"We came to see if you needed any help," Esme said, but instead of picking up a hair pin or tube of lipstick, Esme leaned over and slowly picked up my hand and held it between hers. Instead of basking in the cool, enveloping touch, it only made me acutely aware of the fact that my hands were kind of hot and clammy from anxiety.

"Come tell me what you think of the curls in the back, Rose," Alice said, and I felt a cool breeze when Rosalie walked behind me.

"Bella," Esme said, still holding my hand. "I came in here to help, but I also came in here to say thank you."

"Thank you?" I repeated, confused. I looked up into her earnest, bright gold eyes and felt the genuine warmth behind her smile.

"Thank you. You know, for quite a long time I worried about Edward. He didn't think he needed a companion, but I longed for him to have someone. I very much consider him my child, the same as if I raised him from a baby, and to see him completely _happy _for the first time in his immortal existence is much more than I could've hoped for. You're sacrificing a lot for Edward—"

"But I'm not!" I cut in eagerly, shaking my head.

"I suppose when you're in love, it doesn't feel like you are sacrificing," Esme smiled warmly and lightly squeezed my hand. "But I just wanted to say thank you. And welcome to our family, darling girl. I promise to love and protect you as if you were my own."

I blinked back the first tears of the day and cleared my throat, and said the very sincere words that came to mind.

"I'm honored."

I was honored, truly. Mortal or not, this family was comprised of the most kind, generous, loving people I'd ever known. To be a part of this clan was most definitely an honor.

Esme lightly touched my cheek with her cool, steady fingertips then straightened herself up in one fluid movement.

"I'm off to see that everything is all set downstairs," Esme said, and she seemed to float from the room like a beautiful vapor drifting over the surface of a calm sea.

I closed my eyes and Alice began to work on my face while Rosalie's fingers danced over my hair.

"Bella?" Rosalie asked, her smooth voice slicing the silence.

"Yes?" I asked, stiffening, keeping my eyes closed. Rosalie rarely spoke to me.

"I feel like I have to say something. I've been sitting back, watching you make choices that I know are wrong."

"Maybe wrong for you, Rosalie," Alice cut in and I felt Rosalie's fingers freeze in my hair for a second.

"What I'm saying, _Bella_," Rosalie went on, ignoring Alice, "is that I want you to _think_, I want you to at least try to anticipate the things you may want in the future. You're losing _so _much, and I'm saying this because I genuinely care and don't want to see you throw that potential away."

"But I'm not, Rosalie. Anything that I'm losing is more than made up for, because I get Edward."

"I understand that you do love him deeply. Going to Volterra for him was… honestly incredible. You saved my brother, and you more than demonstrated the earnestness and depth of your affection for him. But, Bella, you can't possibly realize all of the things you'll miss," Rosalie said, and it was the warmest her voice had ever been when addressing me.

"You have no idea all the things that have gone through my head and through my heart in the past two years, Rosalie. But nothing has changed since the last time we talked about this. I _have _considered the choices you're talking about, and I still choose Edward. The bottom line is that I know what it's like to not have him in my life—to truly believe I've lost him forever," I said, referring to that dark time we never really talked about. "That's enough for me to know I'm doing the right thing."

"When I look at you, with _everything _in front of you, and see the choices you're making…" Rosalie trailed off, and I was sure behind me her topaz eyes were still and staring off into her past.

I steeled myself, not in defense—because I knew instinctively that Rosalie didn't mean this conversation as an attack. Rather, I braced up just so I could let the words out without offending my soon-to-be sister. It wouldn't do to spar with Rosalie, especially since I understood she meant no harm.

"I'm not you, Rosalie." I said in a voice I hoped was both kind and firm. "I'm making this choice because this I what I want and what I need. More than _anything_. It will _always _be Edward."

"I see," Rosalie said tightly then her fingers left my hair. "I'm all done here, Alice."

"It's perfect, thank you, Rose," Alice said softly.

"I'll go see if Esme needs any help," Rosalie said, and then she left the room so fast all I saw was a blur of shiny hair and champagne material gliding past me.

"She had to try," Alice said to me, feeling protective of Rosalie. "For her own peace of mind she just had to try."

"I know," I sighed.

"Okay, you're perfection from the neck up. Now we're ready for the dress!"

I held in a groan while Alice unzipped the garment bag hanging from a brass hook on the back of the bathroom door.

"Your mom is about fifteen minutes from pulling into the driveway, so no complaining. Let's get this dress on so she can see you."

I smiled and my chest felt warm at the mention of my mother. I stood and unbuttoned the shirt while Alice prepared the dress.

"Is Edward here?" I asked, knowing that Alice already knew the answer.

"Edward will be waiting for you at the end of the aisle," Alice said.

"He's not back yet?" I asked, my eyes widening.

"Bella, even the Volturi at their worst couldn't keep Edward from marrying you today. Don't worry about a thing."

I flinched at her light joke then took a deep breath. In just over a week the Volturi would no longer be a threat to me or to any of the Cullens. We would all make good on our promise to change me, and they'd no longer have any reason to show up and meddle in our lives. With everything I was gaining in this marriage at least that was one thing I could _give _to my new family.

All I had to do was stand there with my eyes closed while Alice swiftly but carefully buttoned and adjusted my dress.

"Oh! Oh, Bella! Open your eyes and look! You're positively breathtaking," Alice twinkled. I opened my eyes and gave her a flat, disbelieving look.

"See for yourself, silly," she said, then turned me around so I was face-to-face with a gilded full-length mirror on a pivoting wooden frame.

I stared for a few moments then took a step closer to make sure it was really me.

Loose, rich, brown curls were pinned and braided in intricate latticework behind my ears. My make-up was light and flawless. I looked fresh and immaculate—and then there was the dress.

Vintage lace, tastefully draped with just the right amount of modesty, hung from my body, creating the illusion of delicate shoulders and feminine curves that I'd never imagined. Alice must've been a tailor for a time throughout her many years, because it fit in a way that made me look…. _good_.

Better than good, it made me look timeless and elegant. Like Edward's bride.

"Thank you," I said simply.

Alice nodded once behind me, then turned to the mirror and did a quick glance at her own sleek, short waves.

"Your mother is here."

And then a quick tap on the door, Renee entered in a rush before anyone could call "come in".

"Baby girl! I—oh! Oh my gosh! Look at you," Renee said, stopping in her tracks, her arms still held open for a hug.

"Hi, mom," I said.

Her hand clapped over her mouth, and I saw her eyes go glassy with tears.

"Mom, please don't," I said, but then stopped myself. These were happy tears my mother was crying for me, and I knew very soon she'd be shedding tears for an entirely different reason.

"My little middle-aged daughter is getting married. I'm allowed to cry," Renee smiled at me through her tears. "You look gorgeous, baby."

"Thank you," I said and then Renee carefully put her arms around me, and hugged me tightly.

"You'll be better at this than I ever was," she whispered playfully.

I certainly hoped so.

Renee pulled away with a final sniff then straightened my dress.

"Oh! Before I forget. I have something for you, well, Charlie does, but they're from both of us," Renee babbled and then called out for Charlie, who must've been waiting in the hallway.

"You look great, Bells," he said, soft, gruff and awkward, but genuine and then he held out a white box, which my mother scooped up from his hand.

"Go ahead, open it up," she said, excitement in her voice.

I lifted the lid to reveal two heavy, antique looking hair combs.

"Oh," I breathed out. They were beautiful.

"These," Renee said, "are something old. And blue. They belonged to your Grandma Swan, but Charlie and I had real sapphires put in as a wedding gift to you."

"Mom, Dad… They're _perfect_."

"Yes, they are," Alice said, plucking the combs from the box and wasting no time in securing them in my hair.

"Perfect," Renee agreed appraising me.

"Okay, ladies. I promised Carlisle I'd join him in a scotch before we kick this off, so…" Charlie trailed off and made his escape.

"I'd better make sure Jasper's wearing the right shoes." Alice winked at me before disappearing in a flutter.

And for the moment it was just me and Renee. I looked from her face to mine in the mirror, tracing the similarities and the differences, the little lines I'd never have, the radiant beauty I never possessed. But still, there was the same sad smile above the same tapered chin. The same arched brow and the same thick hair- though mine was longer and shinier and much more elaborate today than my mother's.

"You're so beautiful, baby," she said with a squeeze of my shoulder, and I inelegantly snorted. "It's true! How can you doubt it with the way Edward looks at you?"

I looked up from my blush, contemplating this. I could only shrug.

"Did you see him out there?" I asked her, turning from the mirror. Ever single-minded, the mention of his name distracted me from my mother-daughter bonding moment. Renee giggled and nodded and I tried not to think that she might find him cute. I skipped to the door with acres of lace gathered up in my fist and peeked out into the hall. Mom pulled my shoulder.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I just need to _see _him." I whispered back at her with urgency in my voice that I hoped was matched by my eyes.

Renee chewed her lip in brief contemplation, and I released my own lip from my teeth, suddenly self-conscious of that habit. "Let me make sure the coast is clear. We don't need him seeing you in your dress before the wedding," she said.

I rolled my eyes at her superstition but stepped aside and let her tiptoe into the hallway. I knew that most of the occupants in the house had heard everything we said, so either someone would appear to stop our progress or they'd indulgently allow me this moment.

I peered around the door frame and saw Renee beckon me with her waving hand, and I admit I was fairly astonished that Alice would let me get away with this.

Together we crept to the landing, crouched to peer under the banister and between the spindles, and not for the first time, I felt like I was playing a game with my sister rather than experiencing a milestone with my mother.

I spotted Edward right away; he may as well have been standing in an empty room. I knew from his smirk that he was aware we were there but he looked rapt in conversation with Pastor Weber. With a champagne flute in his hand and a tuxedo gracing his frame, I could barely breathe at the sight of him. In fact I was positively panting by the time Alice 'stumbled upon us' from the stairway.

"Bella!" she scolded in mock horror. "You'll wrinkle your gown." She raised me to my feet and adjusted the lace that clung to my shoulders. "Come. I need to adjust your _décolletage _and then you're not allowed to raise your arms up like that again." She dragged me back to the door labeled 'Bride' just as Carlisle and my father emerged from the study.

Carlisle smiled at me. "I'm just delivering your escort, Bella. You look lovely." Then he retreated to the stairway, leaving Charlie propped against the doorway like a bouncer.

Alice ignored everyone, tugging on the delicate antique lace that skimmed over the faint traceries of blue just beneath the surface of my skin. I watched her small white hands make sure my collar bones were evenly displayed while my peripheral vision just registered my mother fixing her lip gloss in the giant mirror. I heard Renee and Charlie exchange some quiet words, but I kept my eyes glued on Alice's dainty fingers.

For a moment I wondered if the expanse of bare neck that Alice was perfecting was meant to make Edward explode. I felt a bit smug about it as I regarded my reflection. At least the playing field was evened-up a little for the day. He was devastating in anything. But naked throat had to be like centerfold material to a vampire, right?

When Alice stopped fussing, I grew overly-aware of Renee's stare. "Okay, it seems like lots of people are arriving, so I'm going to take my seat, before I ruin my mascara," she sniffed.

With a tight smile, my mother leaned in and kissed the air adjacent to my cheek again before patting Charlie's shoulder and leaving the room.

A/N: Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing! This story is up to chapter nine on adf. Many people have said they're having trouble logging in or navigating the site. Please, feel free to PM me here, and I'd be more than happy to help anyone out. This story will keep posting over here, too, but not as frequently as over there. Keeping up is...hectic. Also, a few people mentioned they can't reach the site though mobile devices...it was recently re-done, and you might want to re-try. Again, please feel free to PM me with any questions if you need help.


	5. Chapter 5

"How much longer, Alice?" I asked. The knots in my stomach were starting to work up to my throat as I heard the faint buzz of a growing crowd downstairs and the ceaseless whisper of fabric as Charlie fussed with his cuffs.

But Alice didn't answer me. Instead, her eyes widened, narrowed and then she wiped her expression clean as she inhaled a large breath.

"What, Alice? What is it?" I asked, my nerves getting the better of me.

"Everything is fine, Bella. You're on edge, calm down. I'll go get the shoes." Alice hurried out of the room and I was left with Charlie.

I grabbed his fidgeting hands, hoping he'd see it as a gesture of filial affection rather than intense irritation.

"You got a ton of people down there, kid. I didn't even know you knew that many people."

"I don't," I said, distracted. Alice had seen _something_ that alarmed her.

"Bells?" Charlie asked, snapping a finger in front of my face.

"So, fill me in. Who _do_ I know down there?" I asked, trying to focus back on Charlie, and wondering if Alice's sudden change in demeanor was merely a change in the guest list.

Charlie sighed, probably knowing what I was getting at.

I had been wondering for a few days if Jacob would show up, hoping just maybe his rancor over the wedding would be just the thing to draw his stubborn butt back home before any more of Billy's hair turned white. I'd hope for it until the final moment.

"No word from Jake yet," Charlie said, cutting to the chase. "But Billy's here to represent for him. So are Seth and Sue Clearwater."

I smiled at the thought of Seth and his unlikely friendship with Edward. They'd fought together, side by side, to defeat a monster. There was a kind of kinship there between them now. A brotherly bond that transcended race, genus, and species.

And if Seth was capable of forging a careful friendship with a vampire, why couldn't Jacob?

But I supposed I knew the answer to that. Seth wasn't in love with me, and Jacob Black was. As that old, familiar ache in my chest started to grow, I tried to put Jacob out of my mind.

I'd made my choice, and it was the _right_ choice. Missing Jake on my wedding day just wasn't fair to Edward. I'd put him through enough pain where Jake was concerned, and I wouldn't do that today… or ever again.

"Twenty minutes," Alice said, coming back in toting my shoes.

"Okay, well, I don't think Carlisle will mind if I sneak back into his study for one more little drink. I'll meet you at the top of the stairs for the big walk," Charlie said and I nodded.

I'd already said my goodbyes to Charlie. Doing it again would only be harder, so I said nothing as I watched him go.

As soon as the door shut Alice's face turned serious, too serious.

"What?" I gasped. "Is Edward okay?"

"Oh, he's fine. He's keeping an eye on a _guest_."

"What? Who?"

"It seems your lost puppy returned," Rosalie said, appearing at the doorway with a bouquet in her hands.

"Jake is here?" I asked, my hand fluttering to my chest. "He came?"

An odd look of triumph passed over Rosalie's exquisite face, as though she was almost happy a sworn enemy had shown up unexpectedly. But then, of course she would be.

She thought Jacob would alter my decision to marry Edward.

"He did show up," Alice said. "Of course, I didn't anticipate it, because I can't see his future. But I can sure smell him. He doesn't go well with the white orchids," she finished bitterly.

"I need to talk to him," I blurted out.

"Bella, you can speak with him after the ceremony," Alice said, anchoring the veil to my head.

"He could take off again. And if he does, I'll never get the chance to say goodbye."

Alice's face twisted into one of indecision, while Rosalie's smile widened and I tried to calculate a way past Alice.

"I won't be able to see him again… _ever_," I whispered pathetically but honestly, putting my heart into the plea.

"Alice."

We all turned to the door where Jasper stood, tall and lean and handsome in a tuxedo, his leonine hair framing a mask of tranquility.

Alice left my side and Jasper took long strides toward her. He quickly ghosted his lips to her cheek, so fast I couldn't tell if he kissed her or whispered to her.

"I see. Jacob Black isn't going anywhere before talking to you. His _date_ insists upon witnessing the nuptials. And Edward wants you to talk to Jacob before the wedding," Alice said without trying to hide her annoyance.

"His date?" I murmured, dazed.

Jacob came with a _date?_

"A date," Alice repeated and it all sounded simple enough, yet I had learned early on that with my mythical family, not much was ever what it seemed.

My mind flew to one word: Imprint.

Had Jacob imprinted? If so, then he had moved on from me, and he just might be able to be happy for me or supportive at the very least. A smile began to tug at my lips, Jacob had imprinted and now he was capable of being my best friend. And now he was here for me. My chest felt full and things somehow seemed more _complete_.

Before I could make sense of Jacob's return, before my heart hit full gallop, before the smile on my face even reached my eyes, Alice groaned out loud and Rosalie and Jasper stepped further into the massive marble bathroom, making way for the trio behind them.

I gaped like an open-mouthed fish for approximately one short second.

Jacob was there with a kind of smug half-grin on his face. He raised one hand in a wave to me, as though this was completely normal. As though he hadn't been missing all summer, as though it were perfectly normal that he was in Alice's bathroom minutes before my wedding.

I half expected him to pull out a wrench and ask if we should get to work on the bikes.

Just next to him was a girl, no, a _woman_—a beautiful woman who looked so very familiar, but I couldn't quite place where I knew her from. If it weren't for the fact that her very short skirt revealed very tan legs, I'd have guessed she was a vampire… because frankly, she was dressed like one. She looked me up and down slowly then slightly shook her head and smiled.

And of course, there was Edward.

My eyes, my breath, my heart stopped on him. The classic black and white tuxedo he wore seemed to make his pale skin glow, and sight of Edward right in that moment was possibly the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen even though the tormented, wrathful expression apparent on his face was possibly the most frightening.

His topaz eyes darkened and his jaw clenched tight, and I felt my heart begin to race when he lowered his head just a fraction so he was staring straight through me from under the dark fringe of his lashes.

"What?" I gasped, reaching out my hand as though the empty air would disappear and leave us side by side—where we belonged.

He stood immobile for a fraction of a second, before my sweaty hand was caught by his ice cold fingers.

"This cannot be happening," Alice said.

"Oh, it's happening," Jacob retorted.

"And I saw none of it, thanks to you," Alice said, pointing a finger in Jake's direction.

"Don't thank me, thank Gianna*," Jacob said, nodding at his "date". "If she hadn't suggested it, I might not have shown up."

_Gianna._

Of course! The receptionist we passed by in Volterra. _Was it only six months ago?_

_No, it was five months._

Gianna was the human who _served the Volturi_. The human who wanted to be changed into a vampire.

Not _quite_ five months had passed, and yet for some reason I was slightly surprised to find her still alive.

Edward's fingers toyed with mine, distractedly but gently—always gently—, while he stared at nothing.

No, he stared at Gianna's wrist.

I looked at her bracelet and automatically gave my own arm a little shake, forgetting that Alice had forbidden it for the day because, "_It's too big, it doesn't match the dress, and the shine will do strange things in your photos_."

"Edward?" I whispered and finally, he looked up and actually _saw_ me.

He turned his whole body to face me, and his eyes went from predacious to _gentle_ as his cool hands cupped my face.

"What's happening? What's going on?" I asked.

He kept his gaze on me for a long moment before leaning in. I thought he would kiss my cheek, but I shivered when his cool breath wafted across my ear. He said only one word, so quietly that I wasn't certain if even Jake could hear it, though I knew his family could: "_Listening_."

He kissed my temple before straightening up.

"Rose? Jasper?" he asked, his velvet voice eerily calm while still looking in my eyes. "Will you two please see what you can do to keep our guests at ease downstairs? Esme and Emmett have their hands full keeping the champagne flowing."

It was surreal to think that the crowd of people milling around in the Cullens' elaborately decorated living room were oblivious to the tension that gripped the group of us reflected in the mirror.

"In fact," Edward amended just as Jasper offered Rosalie his elbow, "Jasper, perhaps you'd be kind enough to bring a bottle up for our guests?" Edward's eyes darted toward Gianna almost imperceptibly fast.

Rosalie turned her icy gaze to the Italian beauty for a long beat before she turned on her heel and took Jasper's arm to be escorted downstairs, and in my daze, it seemed almost funny that under nearly any circumstance, class and elegance were retained by these so called 'monsters.'

"It seems as though the Volturi sent a representative to check on your… _progress_," Edward said, still looking at me.

"I see there isn't any," Gianna said flatly, toying with a cell phone in her hands.

She was confident and flipand comfortable in the presence of the immortals, perhaps as comfortable as I was… Yet, there was more to it than that.

"Are they coming? Now?" I whispered to Edward.

"I don't know," he said, his voice vacant. The crease in his brow deepened. "She doesn't know. They've told her nothing of their plans," Edward continued, taking a quick look at Gianna from the corner of his eye.

Of course they hadn't. Edward would be able to read Gianna's mind. And there was no chance of her hiding anything from them, since Aro could read her mind.

"I'm simply here to check up on things," Gianna shrugged, an obvious flaunt of her impunity. "But since nothing has changed, everyone in Volterra will be most disappointed."

Without moving an inch from me, Edward's arm suddenly snapped out, and in a blur he'd taken the cellphone from Gianna's fingers.

I watched his fist close around it then heard the crunch of metal and plastic as he crushed the phone in his hand.

The bits and pieces were still tapping against the marble floor like pebbles and sand when Jasper re-entered the room silently, this time alone with a bottle and two glasses.

Jacob rolled his eyes and leaned against the wide marble counter, crossing his arms over his massive chest while he watched Jasper expertly uncork the champagne. His body language screamed _I dare you to offer me a glass of that_. His childishness, topped by a noisy huff, drew my attention back to him.

"How _could_ you, Jacob?" I practically shouted. "How could you bring her here? How could you side with the _Volturi_?"

"Whoa," Jacob said, holding up his palms. "I just stopped to help a lady with car trouble. She said she was headed for the wedding and invited me and—" his words cut off as he gestured up and down her bare legs as though they explained his impetus completely. "I'm not siding with anyone. I'm on Jake's side. I'm on the side that makes sure no one gets _munched_ on_._"

"A tour bus!" Edward whispered, and then gave Jake an odd look, almost respectful.

Since neither Alice nor Jasper seemed worried about my fiancé's mental well-being, I said nothing. For the moment, his mini-outburst had distracted me from unleashing my fury on Jacob.

Jasper handed a glass of champagne, so cold that a vapor clung to the air around the glass, to Gianna and offered her the elegant purple reclining bench with a smooth gesture of his open palm and the words, "_Facciamo un brindisi_."**

She accepted both the glass and the seat.

Then, instead of offering the other glass to Jake as I'd expected, Jasper raised it to the room as in a toast. "_Oggi si sposa mio fratello, e vorrei dedicare tanti auguri e tutta la felicità di questo mondo a lui e alla sua bella sposa."_ Then he lifted the fizzing flute until the rim was level with his eye, nodded to me, to Edward, and to Gianna.

Gianna raised her glass and said, "_Per cent'anni."_ And she drank.

Jasper's face morphed to concerned puzzlement, and he moved closer to her, leaning down somewhat.

"_Ma_ _non_," he said, correcting her. "_Per sempre. Per l'eternità_."

Giana shook her head and waved her glass from side to side, so even I could tell she was in disagreement with whatever he had said.

"_Batte ancora il suo cuore_." She gestured right at me and Edward's arm tightened around my waist ever-so-slightly.

Jasper fidgeted, which to a casual observer might have looked natural, but the utter lack of human expressions and twitches was just so conspicuous about Jasper that when he actually employed these devices, he stood out more to me.

Gianna, however, responded like an average beautiful woman responds to a handsome and charming man: she patted the seat beside her, inviting him to sit.

Taking the offered place on the bench, he leaned closer to her and winked conspiratorially, "_Ma… batte di fare davvero una bella scopata_." The exaggerated whisper caused Gianna to giggle and Edward to audibly clench his teeth.

Still, that seemed to settle the debate on the reclining bench because they tapped their flutes together filling the room with the echoing ring of fine crystal, and Gianna drained her glass.

Alice watched the two of them as if they were performing an award winning play while Jake, bored at being left out, huffed and hopped up onto a small area of the countertop that was actually clear of bottles, jars, implements, accessories, pins, clips, or accoutrements. Of course he sent a caddy of bobby pins clattering to the floor.

Gianna looked his way and watched Jake watch her cross her legs. Edward's other arm curled around me, and the energy in the room changed palpably, even as the smile grew on Jasper's face.

"_Perché siete venuto a_ Forks?" he asked.

"_Non sono venuto a portare la pace, ma una spade_."

"If the Volturi wanted to threaten us, why would they send _you_, Gianna?" Jasper smiled a smile I'd never seen before. His eyes crinkled at the edges as he refilled her champagne flute.

Edward's head tilted a little, and I knew he was listening as she tried to locate the answer in her Jasper-and-wine-clouded mind.

"Aro sent me because he knew I would come back."

"Go on," Jasper urged gently.

Gianna lowered her voice and leaned toward Jasper as though divulging a juicy secret to a dear friend.

"Aro said that Jacob Black's people were _very_ many and _very_ dangerous to vampires but not dangerous to humans. They protect humans. And you... Your family also will not... _kill_." She smiled as Jasper refilled her glass. "So Aro chose me because he knew I would come back unharmed."

"And you'll go back now to report on Bella?... And the wolves?"

Gianna laughed and waved away his silly suggestion. "What is there to tell Aro about the wolves? He knows _all_ of it from Edward already."

Alice and Edward exchanged an inscrutable look, and after a moment Edward closed his eyes and let out an angry string of profanities in a host of different-sounding languages.

The color drained from Gianna's face at Edward's display of temper, and Jasper angled himself toward her in order to draw attention away from his brother with a smile so breathtaking it made Gianna blush very prettily—not in the splotchy way I blushed.

"You must be quite a favorite of Aro's for him to trust you with this important task," Jasper complimented her.

She simpered. "Perhaps not favorite. I never go into _il foro_, but some of the men do visit the front office to talk to me and brag about their talents. Even Aro visits me! He shakes my hand every week!" She became very animated with wild, swinging hand gestures. All I could wonder was whether she knew how right she really was—how much Aro truly did like to shake her hand, and give her mind a good shake-down while he was at it. "_Alloro_, I lose myself. What was I saying? Oh! After Jacob Black was in Volterra, Aro's eyes light up like Vesuvio."

_What was that? _

Leaning into her personal bubble, Jasper affected her same air of camaraderie. "After Jacob was in Volterra? Do you mean Jacob walked in and out of the city without Aro even knowing about it?"

"Damn right I did," Jacob boasted.

_Jake. In. Volterra?_

But Gianna waved a dismissive hand. "Of course not. This one," she pointed at Jake, "they smell him. Immediately Jane tells Aro she remember the scent from visiting the Cullens, and Aro sent Jane to make sure he leaves Volterra unharmed."

"Why wouldn't Aro keep Jacob? At least for an audience?" Alice asked.

"There's strategy in this," Jasper hummed and then leaned against Gianna in a subtle prompt to get more of the story.

A little too much champagne or a little too much Jasper had her defenses down, so she continued drinking and chattering.

"Aro recognize Jacob Black from Edward. Jacob Black, the boy who makes better Bella's car, so Jacob leaves Volterra to return to Washington USA, and Demitri tracks Jacob until Utah. I fly there, get a broken car, and Jacob stops to help me."

With her glass empty again and her story apparently concluded, Gianna stoodup and wobbled on her stilettos. I wondered if she would make it down the stairs.

"Anyway, dear Jacob and I understood each other from the beginning." She tapped the charm on her bracelet significantly, and I looked closer. It was an embellished letter V—the Volturi crest. "_Alloro_. I have the information I came for, so I may as well let you celebrate. _Auguri_. I hope to see you all again very soon."

The consummate gentleman, Jasper stood at almost the same moment as Gianna, which was just when Edward scrubbed a hand over his face and Alice's expression turned extremely anxious. She must have communicated something to him just then because he looked at her with a defeated smirk.

"Edward, no!" Alice whispered.

"Wait," Edward ignored his sister and stopped Gianna before she could reach the door.

"Si?"

"You do know that the Volturi aren't the only means to get what you want… Don't you?" Edward asked.

He turned his head slightly to one side as he focused intently on her.

"What do you mean?" Gianna asked, her eyes narrowing, but I noticed she leaned a fraction toward Edward.

He smiled softly at her, and his face was no longer guarded or angry. It was as though he was… _seducing _her.

"Edward," Jasper spoke in a warning tone, but Edward acted as though he hadn't spoken at all.

"It means I can offer you immortality, too. And you won't have to work for me for years to get it. All I ask is one small favor, and you can have what you want," Edward enticed.

"What's the favor?" Gianna asked as she crossed her arms, though in defense or defiance, I was unsure.

"Lie. I don't care what you say. You can say she's changed. You can say you never found us. Or, better still, you don't have to go back to Italy at all. I can change you, I can set you free," Edward said.

For one hope-filled moment I saw her waver in contemplation. Then Gianna erupted, gesticulating wildly.

"_Pazzo_! Would Aro send _any_ human out of Volterra? No, _only me_. _Unicamente io. Sono una ragazza della città_! My family still live in the city, and he sent me out of the gate with a _handshake_. He'll be there to shake my hand again when I get back. I'd be a fool to cross the Volturi!"

"Would you?" Edward asked gently. "This _will_ come to a fight. And Gianna?" Edward purred her name, edging toward her ever-so-slightly until she was backed against the vanity, and I could see a curl near her brow shudder when he spoke. "I won't lose. Do you really want to be on the other side?"

Grinding my teeth against a wave of jealousy, I watched Gianna gaze at him as if spellbound and then blink several times in order to bend her mind toward contemplation. Then I peered at Edward's features carefully, trying to figure out if he was bluffing or not.

Would he really change Gianna that easily?

Why?

And why not _me_?

"You… you wouldn't stand a chance," Gianna said, but we all caught the doubt in her voice, as she took a side step away from Edward, backing herself directly into Jacob's mammoth legs. He caught her, no doubt intimidating or impressing her with his massive strength.

"The choice is yours," Edward said.

"You could lose control," Gianna said. "Or you could be lying and I'd be drained and dead."

"You're not that appealing," Edward said flatly, clearly losing patience with the entire thing. "I don't have time to waste on something so insignificant, we're rather busy today. If we're done here, I'm sure you can see your way out."

"Wait, wait," I blurted out. "Do it! Do it now, while she's here, that way she can go back, say it's done and we can just… be _done_ with them."

Gianna paused and raised her eyebrows.

"Bella, there is a crowd of people downstairs waiting for a wedding," Alice said slowly, as though I'd lost my mind.

"Jasper and champagne would keep them under control," I said.

Gianna's look of challenge toward Edward turned to one of suspicion toward Jasper, and I started to worry that their game would unravel.

But when Edward touched me, I couldn't think about anything else. He put his fingertips to my chin and raised my face so I was looking directly into his eyes.

"I can't," he said simply.

"You _can. _You're going to do it in a few days anyway, Edward! Why wait? Why cause any more—"

"I promised you, Bella."

"No one is biting anyone," Jacob jumped to his feet, puffing out of his broad chest.

Edward didn't seem surprised by his declaration at all.

He knew this was coming.

"Stay out of it, Jacob," I barked.

"Stay _out of it_? That's the only reason I'm here. If any bloodsucker bites you or Gianna or anyone else, it's war. And one of us _will_ lose, Bella."

"It won't be us, you foul-smelling, overgrown rabbit-chaser," Alice piped in.

"Maybe," Jacob said then focused on me. "Maybe I'll lose."

He ran his finger across his own neck, implying I could be responsible for his death—it was manipulative.

I knew that.

But still.

He was right.

One side _would_ lose.

And I'd have that blood on my hands for eternity.

"That's enough, Jacob," Edward said, dark and soft. "You won't scare her or manipulate her anymore. You're on my territory right now. One more word and I'll toss you off. Piece by piece."

I shuddered as I put my palms up, between both of them.

"Stop. Both of you just stop it. We have bigger things to deal with right now."

"The way I see it, if one of us were gone, there wouldn't be any problems at all," Jake shrugged.

I heard Emmett's distinct, fierce growl and looked over to find him standing in the doorway, no doubt hastening up here when he heard things get a little dicey. Jacob turned toward him and squared his shoulders, his face turning fierce and proud.

"Good, we can get rid of you right now then," Emmett said.

"Enough," Carlisle said, appearing behind his hulking son. "There is a houseful of innocent lives here. A wedding was supposed to have started ten minutes ago. For the sake of safety and secrecy for all of us, knock it off. Now."

Gianna inched toward the doorway, shifting her eyes periodically toward Jasper. "Too much has passed between us already. I'm leaving now. But one more thing before I go… I'm supposed to tell you _time isn't on your side_."

"No, let her go," Edward said, speaking to Emmett, who hadn't said anything out loud at all. "If she isn't back when expected, they will come for her. Demitri could track her through a damned blizzard if he had to. She's no threat; holding her here would do no good."

With that, Gianna stepped over the pieces of her broken phone in heels too high for me to even contemplate, and walked out on her way to report the truth.

I was still very human.

It was silent for a few moments while Edward and I stared at one another, all lace and tuxedo, and the farthest thing from my mind was a wedding.

"An impasse," Edward finally murmured. "We're all gridlocked. The Volturi say I must give you immortality, the Pack says I cannot. No matter who I defy, there will be grief and pain. Gianna used Jacob, and in return, he's choosing to back us all into a corner." He sighed heavily and dragged a hand through his hair. "It's hard to say, exactly, who our allies are and who our enemies are."

"Used? I do not get _used_. And since you're clearly carrying around a head full of dead brain cells, let me spell it out for you, Leech. You can count me as your enemy," Jacob said, and Edward's gaze snapped to him just as Seth slipped into the room, too.

I was beginning to think we should just have the wedding in the bathroom.

"You don't say? I had actually figured that out around the point where I learned you went to Volterra to… what? Take out a contract on me?"

Jake bristled. "It wasn't like that. Anyway, it was a… miscalculation."

I sat down because amidst all the mind games with Gianna I still hadn't really processed the fact that _Jacob went to Volterra._

"Jake, man. They're our allies. We all fought _together_." Seth's voice floated on the fringes.

My head felt stretched, distended, and unable to contain the information that had been thrown at it in the last few minutes: The Volturi would back us into a wall; the Pack would _be_ that wall; and Jake had lost his mind.

"Bella?" Suddenly Edward was on his knees in front of me. "Sweetheart?"

In one swift, fluid motion, he lifted me up and settled himself into the bench with my body cradled in his lap. Edward's cool fingers brushed my cheek, and I focused my eyes on his, and I leaned into his hand, not sure whether it was the temperature or just Edward that made me feel better.

I looked into his concerned face, and then I looked past him. At the idiot wolf boy who stood crunching bobby pins under his feet.

"Why did you _go_ there?" I bleated out. Because why? Why would he keep doing this to me?

"To try to make a deal with the Volturi?" It came out of his mouth as a question, but I had no doubt it would have sounded just as lame even if he'd have shouted it with all the confidence in the world. Because, _seriously_?

"What?" Emmett and I yelled at the same time, only his hands were balled up in fists, and I was struggling to get up so I could smack Jacob Black into the next century.

Edward gently rubbed a cool hand against the nape of my neck under my hair, and I felt myself relax as he spoke in an even voice. "Jake knew I'd gone there… for a certain purpose. And that Bella had gone after me and _interrupted_ my plan, thankfully." He kissed my ear because I squeezed him. Even the thought of those days threatened to open up the painful empty chasm in my chest. "Jacob thought that the Volturi probably wanted me dead."

"But they don't," Alice's voice cut in. I looked up to see she'd turned around and had a vicious little finger pointing right up into Jake's face. "They had _refused_ to kill Edward even before Bella got there."

"How could Jacob have guessed that?" Edward's voice was filled with a foreign melancholy as he talked his sister down. I watched his Adam's apple bob as he spoke. "Jake's plan was to trade them a valuable piece of information for Bella. He figured if the Volturi took care of us, he'd be rid of us without breaking the treaty, without losing any of the Pack."

Seth looked down and shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. I heard him mutter again something about _allies_ and friends.

Jake answered him. "It was to protect a human. Bella, in fact. So is this. Because now Count Dracula over there plans to chow down on her and I just can't let that happen."

I still wanted to get up and hit him, but Edward still held me tightly, and it was better to bury my nose against his neck than try to fight gravity and risk a broken hand.

"And Secretary Barbie? Why did they send her?" Emmett asked.

Jake shrugged. "I've been wondering about her ever since she just turned up in the middle of nowhere with a Maserati and a gummed up fuel injector. I recognized her bracelet, and she said it would be a shame for me to miss your wedding, so she drove me here."

Emmett suggested, "Aro testing to see if the wolves truly are harmless to humans?"

Edward tilted his head to the side. "No. Aro was already sure about that. There was a bus full of tourists heading for the city. Jake… detoured it. As Gianna indicated, the guard who were here in the spring recognized Jacob's scent and deduced that there are _several_ wolves here. Aro knew from the fact that we had to make a treaty with the Quileutes in the thirties that the Pack wouldn't actually welcome _their_ kind of vampire. Gianna, however, is human. Aro knows _we_ won't kill her, and Jake's heroism with the tour bus proved that the Pack wouldn't harm her… and," his eyes met mine, "that he'd protect _you_ from me at all costs… creating the impasse." With his final words, Edward ghosted his fingers over the exposed flesh above the neckline of my dress.

Jasper was quick to translate her purpose into something I could understand. "She's a video recorder on legs. She's here gathering every little scrap of information she can—even stuff she doesn't realize is important. And all Aro has to do is sift through it later."

"You tried to stop her," I murmured at Edward. "By offering to bite her."

"I'm not sure if she happened to _record_ the information Aro wanted or not," he replied thoughtfully, looking right at Jacob, who shrugged and had the good grace to look repentant about not knowing the answer either. The big oaf wasn't all bad.

"And me?" I asked, finally standing up to Jacob myself. "If you were selling my family out, what did you plan to do with me?" My roller coaster mood took a plunge and I stared the big traitor down.

Jake just studied his ugly shoe, so I turned to Edward whose warm eyes awaited me. "You'd no longer have to make the hard choice," he said.

"I already made my choice," I said, my voice rising as I spun on my heel, my toes digging into the plush white rug on that section of the floor. "Nothing—not _you_, Jacob Black, or a whole _pack_ of wolves or an entire _army_ of vampires—is ever going to change my mind. _I only want Edward!_"

The whole room was spookily quiet after I yelled and made eye contact with every single one of them.

"Damn, Bridezilla Bella! You lose, Jasper!" Emmett laughed. His giant hand petted my hair, which jumpstarted Alice into action.

"Omigosh, you're rumpled! Out, out, out!"

As most everyone filed out, I turned to Edward and his lips fell to mine, and it didn't matter if he was as cold as marble because he lit me on fire.

"Yeah, maybe we should have that wedding now," Emmett's jocular voice boomed in over our kiss just before he disappeared through the door.

"You aren't superstitious about me seeing you before the wedding, are you?" Edward released me when he and Jasper were the only ones left besides me and Alice.

"Isn't it a little late to ask?"

He stole one last kiss on my cheek and took a step toward the door before Jasper stopped him.

"I'm sorry, but one last thing." Jasper shot me an apologetic nod, and I tried very hard to keep my emotions in check. "What was the piece of information Black wanted to offer to the Volturi?"

Edward's eyes darted to his sister. "That Alice can't see the wolves."

*_Chapter Note: In an interview after the New Moon movie hints that Gianna will become dessert for the Volturi, SM confirms that she will die before her wish to join the vampires is fulfilled. However, the tragic event has obviously not yet occurred at the time of this story._

****Translations**

J: Let's toast.

J: Today, my brother gets married, and i'd like to dedicate best wishes and all the happiness in the world to him and his lovely bride.

G: Here's to a hundred years. (This is a traditional Italian wedding toast, wishing the bride and groom a hundred happy years together.)

J: (He catches her error in calculating a mere century of happiness for the couple.) No. Forever. For eternity.

G: Her heart is still beating.

J: But... it only beats for a good bang (implying to Gianna the true plan to change Bella after the honeymoon sex).

J: Why did you come to Forks?

G: I did not come bringing peace, but a sword.

SOME RANDOM WORDS:

alloro: well

Vesuvio: Mount Vesuvius

il lupo: [the] wolf

auguri: well-wishes

pazzo: crazy


	6. Chapter 6

I stood there in a _wedding_ dress.

My best friend, who'd been missing for ages, just showed up out of the blue.

With a date.

An _evil_ date.

She came to tell me time was running out.

Jake said he was there to stop the clock.

If I thought I was overwhelmed before, it was nothing to how I was feeling after all that.

There was no way I could walk down those steps and pretend everything was status quo in front of all of those people.

I felt like my heart would come out of my ears.

"Okay, Carlisle's got Charlie on his feet, Esme and Carmen have inspired your mother to shrink her carbon footprint by eating a local diet, and I'm pretty sure Phil is in love with Emmett for his baseball card collection. All in all, the delay hasn't caused a total train wreck." Alice seemed to think that jabbering at me while rearranging my dress and curls would be good for my nerves.

"Then again," she went on, "that's not counting the underage drinkers. Between you and me, Eric Yorkie plus Bollinger equals disaster." She dusted my face in powder and added a touch of lip gloss. "There. I'll tell Edward to stop loitering outside this door and then head down to cue the quartet. We're only twenty minutes late, which is practically ahead of schedule for a wedding." As if by magic, she left me looking as though there had never been a delay.

"Edward?" All I did was say his name, and he was instantly through the door.

He took my hand and kissed it, and my breathing slowed. He dragged his nose slowly over the inside of my wrist and my heart calmed.

"Bella," Edward said my name, soft and smooth, cutting through my panic. "Your heart's thumping like a hundred hoof beats over frozen ground. It's okay, sweetheart. You're in no danger—"

"What if I forget my lines?"

Edward's perfect brow creased down the center as his face bent toward mine. "Your lines?"

"Uhh, vows?"

Edward's features rearranged themselves most radiantly and he laughed. "You can speak gibberish at me for all I care. As long as you let me put a ring on your finger in front of a witness, I'll be happy, my love."

"You think I'm joking."

"Ahem," Jasper politely cleared his throat behind me. "Edward, your best man is in his place downstairs, and I'd be happy to hand off your bride to her father for you."

Edward made eye contact with his brother over my head, affording me a nice look at his perfect throat. His cold lips touched my left eyebrow very gently and then he was gone so suddenly that I was left slightly disoriented.

I took the bouquet of white orchids and deep blue irises, the same one Rose had tried to hand me earlier, from Jasper and smiled up at him in thanks for both the flowers and the calm. In that blissful cloud of scent and serenity, we stepped into the hallway.

"I'd say don't marry him," Jake's voice came at me from behind. "But that's kind of pointless. I'd say I can promise you things too, but you don't want anything I have to offer. I'd say you'll probably be a widow by next week—"

"Jacob…"

"For what it's worth, I'll just say you look like a knock out today, Bella."

I couldn't help it. I gave him a small smile. Meanwhile, Jasper folded his hands and leaned on the wall, affecting an air of patience while remaining steadfastly conspicuous.

"I'll stick around until you say 'I do,' just in case," Jake said, and I rolled my eyes at him one last time.

We both knew these were likely to be the final words and acts of friendship for both of us; I suppose that's why he looked as though he were fighting the same tears that were brimming at my eyes as well.

It was an impossible situation.

_Impossible._

He quickly kissed the opposite cheek of where Edward had kissed and I stood there, half burning and half freezing, knowing that in a few minutes I wouldn't be living on the edge of this fine sword anymore.

Jasper took my elbow and led me to the landing. As we reached Charlie, I realized that Gianna had distracted Alice from putting the shoes on my feet. Jasper must have sensed my momentary puzzlement over whether to go back for them because he looked down at me quizzically, but I shrugged it off. I never wanted to see that bathroom again, and I was content to walk down the aisle barefoot as Edward had suggested, even if it was initially meant as a joke.

The next few moments passed by me like a sort of hazy dream. It was almost as though I were watching the scene from the nosebleed seats.

Jasper handed me off to Charlie. I kissed my father's cheek and noticed that he smelled like liquor rather than beer. I smoothed his pocket square and placed my left hand on his right forearm while holding my bouquet in my right hand. It seemed surreally heavy, and the scent of orchids and alcohol was warm and heady.

As we waited for the music, it was like we hovered. We stood arm-in-arm together on the bridge that connected my past and my future. For that single moment, when the guests stopped shuffling and the first note of the cello hung alone in the air, I had one foot in each world.

Then I took that step.

It was as we descended the staircase slowly but steadily that I noticed the details of the décor in the living area that I hadn't noticed earlier. Every surface had a cobalt blue glass with a candle glowing dimly from within, and the end of each row of chairs was adorned with an arrangement of white orchids and irises.

Everything was simple but elegant. I was white, and everything else was a shade of off-white or blue with the men in black. It looked like the type of wedding you might see in a magazine.

I felt rather than heard the music as it vibrated through the air and my bones. A light smile played on my face as I recognized familiar people whose names I couldn't place just then. My bare feet delighted in the feel of soft petals lining the aisle as Charlie and I approached.

Where was Edward?

My foot faltered, and Charlie squeezed my arm and looked down at me in concern.

With panic rising in my chest, I tried to pull free of my father's grip, but he held tight.

All I could see where Edward should have been was a great big…

Jacob?

My step stuttered again.

What kind of sick trick were all these people trying to play on me?

My father whispered something and half dragged me forward, but it wasn't where I wanted to go.

I must've looked wild as I scoured the room.

Pastor Weber stood near an explosion of flowers, and in front of him, Jake faced me looking somber and sad as I tried to escape him.

I felt my sinuses prickle and my eyes get misty.

Despite his tendencies toward being a supreme bonehead, Jake owned a piece of my heart, and I hated hurting him.

I couldn't have all of the options; I already knew that.

I'd made the choice; I didn't understand why Charlie was dragging me toward the wrong man.

I'd have to fight.

I pushed the air out of my lungs slowly and deliberately, willing the fear and doubt and horror to leave with it.

And just as I gathered my strength, preparing to jerk my arm away from my father and run, something lustrous caught my attention from behind Jacob's shoulder.

I looked closer and realized it was Edward's pale, perfect face, merely obscured by my friend who was much too big, and the tears I hadn't quite cried for Jacob were held at bay by Edward's breathtaking smile.

For a brief moment, I wondered if it would always be like that: if my love for Edward, and his for me, would always be enough to keep all of the _bad_ just at bay.

And I supposed, in all fairness, that was how it should be.

For a love so strong and so intense, there must be such strong and intense effects. If I'd learned anything at all, it was that you can't get something for nothing.

The more you get, the higher the price.

Even so, when I finally had him fully in my sight, his radiance no longer eclipsed by love's lesser shadow, I couldn't feel any kind of sacrifice or loss.

Edward stood on a slightly raised platform surrounded by woven irises. His fingers rested intertwined in front of him. He was beautiful. His eyes were alive with a thousand shades of gold that sparkled just for me.

When I walked past Jacob and reached the platform, Edward's arm reached out and his lips parted. He took my hand offered him by Charlie and his smile bloomed into a sublime portrait of delight, and I was overwhelmed by my own luck that this man would be mine forever.

It was fortunate that I was not required to look at anyone but Edward during the ceremony because I could not have looked away. His face held me hypnotized and enraptured.

Pastor Weber spoke, but I heard none of it. There was a moment of confusion when a pillow with two rings on it appeared before me, balanced on Carlisle's steady hand.

I was poked from behind, and Alice whispered, "Take the bigger one and put it on Edward."

So I picked up the larger of the two rings, took Edward's hand and slipped the ring onto his finger. My heart suddenly went into overdrive—as if this whole marriage thing actually had significance.

I felt my insides flutter as I repeated after Pastor Weber, "With this ring I thee wed. With my body I thee worship." And I knew Edward heard my heartbeat because I felt one of his fingers surreptitiously slide to the inside of my wrist so he could revel in my wild pulse.

Then he took the smaller ring and slid it onto my hand and said his vows to me, and all I could hear was "I love you Isabella" because his face was so heartbreakingly beautiful when he looked at me that he didn't even need words to express his feelings.

For what felt like ages we stood facing each other hand in hand with Pastor Weber one step away facing a crowd of people to whom we were utterly oblivious. While he spoke—to us or to them, I had no idea—we just gazed into each other's eyes.

Suddenly Edward pulled me forward into his hard chest, and as though I were listening on tape delay, I heard Pastor Weber say "You may kiss the bride," right after I tasted the sweet venom on Edward's lips.

I threw my arms around his neck, and he lifted me off the ground so we could _really_ kiss. I pulled his hair and heard a small noise crawl up from Edward's chest as I bit his mouth and whimpered when he put me down.

"We have an audience, Mrs. Cullen," he said, and I took a deep breath to try to clear my head. I looked around, and Oh! A bunch of people were standing and laughing and clapping at us.

I looked back at Edward to see him smile at the crowd of people.

He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed the new ring on my finger while the string quartet played something sweet and happy.

When Edward's eyes shone bright and gentle despite all of the chaos and violence hanging over our lives, and when my own eyes closed in gratefulness and love when his hands left mine to caress my jaw, I knew I hadn't really given up anything at all.

I knew I was foolish for ever resisting the idea of being Edward's wife.

I believed I was quite literally born to be at this man's side for eternity.

_Everything _else be damned.

He took both my hands, and our arms tangled together as we walked back up the aisle. We walked slowly, allowing everyone to throw elegant blue flower petals and boisterous well-wishes at us.

The walk was so easy this time, free of struggle and panic and trompe l'oeil, and my heart was so light that my entire body floated right along with it.

Together we made our way to the dining room where we were supposed to "receive" our guests, according to Esme. I still had no idea what that meant but Edward seemed to think it was important, and at that moment the only thing important to me was keeping physical contact with him.

I'd never let him go again.

If I held on tight enough, no mythical beast nor Volturi nor super-human guilt complex could ever come between us, no matter how heavily the odds looked to be stacked against us.

The massive table was gone from the dining room and in its place there was a lovely archway latticed with irises and cobalt-blue hanging lanterns. In the dim blue light, Edward and I looked equally pale and I wondered if this would freak anyone out. Alice handed me a glass of very cold and very fizzy liquid which I sipped just as my mother came up to "be received".

"Oh, baby girl! I never—you just—oh, Bella!" Renee descended into sniffles and Edward produced a handkerchief out of nowhere while Phil gently pounded Renee's shoulders, as though that would help.

"Alice," I whispered into my hand. I saw her look up at me from across the room. "Maybe you could get Jasper to stand near the reception thing?"

Alice gave me a thumbs-up and turned around, I supposed to find Jasper. I hugged my mother and answered her questions regarding whether Edward would take care of me and be good to me and then listened to Edward answer the same questions when she put them to him directly.

Suddenly she stopped dithering as Jasper arrived to give Edward a congratulatory handshake.

"Thank you," I said, and he winked.

Jasper hovered around as every wedding guest filed past to congratulate (Mrs. Newton, Mrs. Cope, Angela, Deputy Mark) , make jokes (Mike, Jessica, Tyler, Eric), or simply be introduced (Tanya, Kate, Carmen, and Eleazar).

Except with the last four guests to go through the reception line, Jasper wasn't there to keep them calm, rather to keep _me_ calm.

"Bella," Edward said, "these are Carmen and her mate Eleazar, Kate, and Tanya… our family from Alaska."

The phrase "ugly stepsister" flashed in my mind like a glaring red neon sign as the statuesque women descended on us, smiling and graceful like ballerinas in dreams, flanked by a Prince Charming escort.

"Welcome to our family," the first said. "I'm Carmen."

I shook her cool hand and noted her silky raven hair. Her face was, of course, beautiful, and before I could answer her, my hand was in another.

A black head bowed over my hand in an antiquated, formal gesture, followed by the quick touch of a cold pair of lips grazed my knuckles. The effect was decidedly flattering, and I may have blushed a little as Eleazar rose to his full and impressive stature with a slight click of his heel.

"Señora. Eduardo has always been mucho respect of me, and I am so happy to see him well wed with such a charming lady." Though his accent was thick, somehow the slight faults and Catalan lisp only made him more alluring.

He held onto my hand a moment, peering at me, and a shiver went down my back. It was a sensation Renee used to call 'someone stepping on your grave' and I edged closer to Edward. "Forgive me," he said with another slight bow. "An old habit."

I looked to Edward for a hint on what just happened. I had just enough experience around vampires to know that this charming Spaniard had used—or tried to use—his talent on me. Edward merely shook the man's hand with that crooked grin on his face, which told me nothing except Eleazar had meant no harm and done no damage.

Edward's lips against my temple distracted me from trying to figure all that out. My body naturally rotated into alignment with Edward's and I leaned up for a kiss, which he granted before placing his hands on my shoulders and physically turning me back to face the receiving line. A gorgeous woman stood waiting to take my hand next.

"I'm Kate. Welcome and congratulations to both of you," she said. "Finding a mate for life is extraordinary, no matter what the circumstances. We're grateful our Edward has found you."

"Oh. I'm grateful I found him," I said, then winced at how stupid I sounded. Maybe I was simply still a little flustered from Eleazar's odd behavior.

Kate flicked back her long, pale hair and laughed lightly with warmth. I instantly liked her.

"I'm Tanya."

I stared.

She was every bit as lovely as I had feared she would be. Strawberry blonde curls hung loose and full around pale, sculpted shoulders. Her full lips gave me a secretive smile while I awkwardly shifted from foot to foot.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you," I said after a moment.

"You too, Bella. I have to admit, I made the trek down here mostly just to see exactly what kind of woman it _does_ take to land this infamous bachelor," Tanya said, humor in her tone as she patted Edwards shoulder. Then squeezed his bicep.

"Oh, well, I… don't know. I'm still not entirely sure what he sees in me," I said truthfully.

"He was right. You're absolutely lovely," Tanya said, then kissed my cheek. Then she reached up and kissed Edward's, too.

She did linger a moment, and I knew she was whispering something in his ear.

Edward pulled back from her and gave a blank stare in her direction for a moment before she giggled, and I wanted to curl in on myself.

"That won't be necessary," Edward said to Tanya and put his arm around my shoulder.

I made a mental note to ask him later exactly what all that was about.

Edward guided me back into the living room where the chairs decorated in white and blue flowers had been moved from their neat columns to line the edges of the room. Tables full of canapés, petit-fours, hors-d'oeuvres, and finger sandwiches were everywhere, and more champagne glasses than I'd ever imagined covered every surface.

All the guests appeared to be either drunk or over half-way there. Alice skipped past me as Edward maneuvered me through the crowd and passed off a full glass in exchange for my empty one. Somehow, despite Gianna, despite the imminent war between the wolves and the Cullens that would break out when Edward bit me, and despite the war between the Volturi and the Cullens that would break out if Edward didn't bite me… despite everything, I found myself smiling at Edward's joyful face and laughing at the playful insults he shared with his brothers. I even found myself agreeing when he asked me to dance.

Once people were staring at us, I sobered up a little, though. "Ugh, why did I agree to this?"

"Because I want to dance on my wedding day, and you wouldn't be so cruel as to deny me anything so simple."

"You're a very manipulative vampire, you know that?"

Edward only grinned at me, showing too many teeth. It was a smile that I knew was meant to be menacing, but to me, it only made him look like a snarling kitten. I reached up to kiss him, loving the way his eyes closed and he didn't so much as duck away or protest.

"Alright," I murmured in his ear as we 'danced' with me standing atop his feet, "I'm giving you a wedding day dream come true by dancing with you. That means you'll give me something too, right?"

Edward chuckled very low, "Which of us is the manipulative one?"

"What was all that with Tanya?

Edward's face didn't change one iota. "I thought you'd be more interested in asking about Eleazar's assessment."

My eyebrows shot up, "Assessment?"

"His talent is spotting potential in humans," Edward murmured against my hair.

"And by 'potential' you mean he predicts what their powers will be."

Edward smirked at me. "More or less."

"So?"

He spun me around when the music changed.

I tried to stop and glare at him to make him answer, but his hand was effectively controlling my movements, and all I managed to do was slide my foot across the floor rather than take the step. He lifted me up and lowered my feet deftly onto the tops of his own shoes.

So much for exercising my will.

"No fair," I grumbled. "So, since you're making me wheedle, what did Eleazar see in me?"

"He thinks you're very pretty."

"Edward."

"That's right," he said and smiled at me. For a moment, all I could do was look up at his beautiful face, radiating joy and promise, all for me. "All he saw in you was me. Either he's on the fritz, you're inscrutable, or you're going to become president of the Edward Cullen fan club at some point in the future."

We both laughed, and I let my head fall against his lapel. The smell of him, and his arms around me, and the happiness swirling all around him made me giddy, and it felt so good just to be in his arms and be… in love. I nuzzled and sighed, "When are we going to _try_?"

He did his best to sound scandalized, "Goodness, Isabella Cullen. Is that any way for a lady to talk?"

"Don't evade, Aunt Edina."

He threw his head back in laughter and the column of his neck, his throat, his jaw were sculpted so perfectly and with such a fine hand that I literally gasped, breathless in wonder at the sight of him.

At the sound of it, Edward's eyes found mine and grew serious. "I plan to keep all my promises to you, my love."

"Good because I—"

I was cut off right then by Edward becoming a statue. I opened my eyes and raised my head from his chest and saw Charlie standing there, right in our personal bubble.

He cleared his throat kind of awkwardly and then said, "May I cut in?" For a moment neither Edward nor I moved, so Charlie was compelled to keep speaking. "It's traditional. A father of the bride thing, apparently."

"Of course," Edward said, and he lifted me off his shoes, placing me gently on the floor.

I was wary of dancing with Charlie. Not only was it likely he danced no better than I, I was afraid of a speech about the two glasses of champagne or (heaven help me) something about what to expect on my wedding night. But all I got was a big strong fatherly hug for the minute or so that remained of the song. He didn't say anything or ask anything. He just hugged me and kind of rocked us from side to side, and I hugged him back, speaking his language.

When our dance was over I looked around for Edward and caught sight of him dancing with my mother—who was talking a mile a minute. I groaned.

"It's not as bad as you think, Bella," Carlisle's smooth voice rolled over my shoulder. Of course, once again, everyone could eavesdrop but me. "May I have the honor of dancing with my new daughter?" He smiled at me so fantastically that I couldn't have said no, even if I could have said anything at all.

The afternoon went on like that. The vampires all danced like professionals. The humans were all too drunk to feel bad about their own dancing. Charlie danced with Esme; Renee danced with Carlisle; Eleazar asked me to dance, which caused me to have an obnoxiously loud coughing fit when I choked on my champagne. (Luckily he didn't ask a second time, not that Edward let me out of his reach after that.) Seth even danced once with Esme, and I'd have loved to see Sam's face when he found out about that. Champagne kept materializing in front of me until soon I wobbled when I stood up, but Edward's arm was always there—just in case.

"Bella. Are you… _tipsy_?" he teased.

"Shuddup. It's a human experience."

He chuckled at me, which was adorable, so I kissed him with my mouth wet and open until he groaned and pulled away. "We have to cut the cake and toss the bouquet and the garter."

"Huh?"

"Alice says we have to finish all of the traditional stuff so people can go home."

"Garter?" I asked, puzzled. Edward's hand slid down from my waist to my hip to my thigh where it rested over a tiny bulge under the lace. There was something under my dress that I didn't even remember putting on. "I never even put my shoes or stockings on," I mused.

Edward smiled at me. "I noticed."

I let him lead me to the dining room where a tall cake decorated in elegant sugar irises and topped with a small replica of me and Edward stood on the table against the wall. Edward and I were meant to cut the first slice and feed each other a bite.

"I don't want to make you eat cake, Edward," I whispered to him.

"Don't worry about it. Most brides just squash the cake onto their husband's face, according to Emmett," he whispered back to me. I cast a sidelong glance at his massive brother who grinned and gave me an exaggerated wink to confirm this.

"That seems," I fumbled a moment for the word, "disrespectful."

Edward put the cake knife back down on the table and placed both hands against my cheeks. "I love you so much, Isabella Cullen." And then he kissed me in the way that caused me to undo the second button of his shirt because I completely forgot that all the wedding guests were in the same room with us. His hands slid from my face to my wrists as he finished the kiss with sweet pecks to my eyelids and chin.

I stared at him and licked my lips. They tasted so sweet from his mouth that I feared the cake would taste bitter in comparison.

As he leaned over me to pick the knife back up, I just heard him whisper, "Sorry Jasper," and I looked over at Edward's brother who was seated by the wall and leant with his head in his hands.

We did the cake ceremony. Edward got around swallowing any of it by kissing me after I put a tiny bit into his mouth. He transferred it back to me—much colder—via a kiss.

Then I tossed my bouquet while Alice, Esme and Rosalie cut and plated the rest of the cake for all the other guests.

While champagne was being poured to accompany the cake and the toasts, Edward pulled the garter off my thigh without the use of his hands. My face got so hot when his lips placed a delicate kiss just south of my underwear that I was sure every vampire in the house was about to jump me. But of course the whole ridiculously sexist tradition came off (as it were) without a hitch—except that it was revealed to all that I had foregone footwear for the day, and some genius made a joke about "the little woman being barefoot already" to which Edward did not respond.

As Edward's best man, Carlisle toasted us first.

"I've known Edward since he was a boy. I've seen him grow into an adult and I've seen him take on responsibility, learn from his own mistakes, gain an understanding of the world. SInce he has known Bella, finally I have had the pleasure of watching him become a _man_. My oldest, youngest son. The introspective one, the rebellious one, the reserved one, the musical one. My stubbornest child. My dear friend. Congratulations and thank you. Thank you for all the years of joy and surprise and wonder you brought to my life, and thank you again for bringing me a new daughter who is warm and kind and compassionate and who loves you and makes you happy. To Bella and Edward!"

I swallowed back the tears and squeezed Edward's hand. The emotion showed across his face in the crease between his brows and the thinness of his upper lip. I reached up to kiss his chin, and finally I caught his smoked amber eye. Half his mouth curled into a slight grin just for me as if to confirm how lucky we both were to have someone like Carlisle on our side.

Next, my matron of honor raised her glass to give her speech.

"I've only known Bella for a couple of years, but in that short time, she has become my best friend and my sister. She's given more to my family than anyone could have foreseen, and the best part is that we still get to spend the rest of forever with her. I never imagined my brother Edward would find a match who could challenge him in all the ways that she will, but it's those challenges and their outcomes that make a great marriage, and I know these two will outshine us all. I want to toast Bella and her future with my brother. I know it will be wonderful. They will be infinitely happier together than either would be alone, so to Bella and Edward: eternal joy and prosperity!" At that she raised her glass higher and the whole crowd murmured our names before sipping their sparkling champagne.

Edward and I clinked our crystal flutes together, and I drained mine.

"I believe you're drunk, Mrs. Cullen."

I snorted inelegantly, which probably didn't help my case. "At least I don't keep calling you Mister Cullen," I groused.

"Does it bother you that I'm calling you Mrs. Cullen?" he whispered into my ear. The chill of his breath sweeping over my blushing skin sent a shiver right down my spine. I moved closer into Edward's beautiful jacket and reveled in the kisses he dotted over the side of my face.

"Ahem," a voice broke through the bubble of isolation that love had built up around Edward and me.

I looked up to see my mother holding a glass up for a toast, too.

"I want to say a few words about my little girl and this handsome young man," she smiled. Had I not been tipsy, perhaps I'd have cringed in anticipation of whatever would come out of her mouth. But as it was, I merely smiled while Edward played with a loose curl at my shoulder.

"Bella has always been an independent girl. As a child she always wanted to do everything for herself. She never accepted help in tying her shoes or buttoning her coat or cleaning her room. Bella just did all those things without being told, and even when she was so small that it didn't come easy for her, she just took her time and stayed determined." Renee's eyes took on a sparkle as she looked straight at me. "And that's how I still see her. Independent and determined to live life _her_ way and do whatever it takes to make it work. I'm proud of her and glad she found Edward because I think that he is the kind of guy who'll let her do things her own way but stand by to catch her in case anything ever goes wrong." She then looked directly at Edward. "I'm trusting you with my baby girl." And she clinked her glass against Phil's.

I raised my glass, but it was empty, so Edward held his to my lips, and I sipped from it amidst a small chorus of "awwws."

* * *

_Hey, this is jenny. I just wanted to thank you all for the reviews (especially the one I saw several days ago for Sanctuary!). Every few days J and I do actually find a moment when we're both free at the same time and we read through your reviews together, and they do make us smile. We appreciate every one of them. Thank you. We have a twitter account for High Noon updates and teasers, so follow if you're the impatient type: highnoon__


	7. Chapter 7

The cake was demolished, and the music playing over the hidden speakers shifted to fun dancey numbers to compliment the amount of sugar that had just been consumed.

I was enveloped in Edward's arms amidst a small crowd of dancers. The two of us stole brief kisses and secret smiles, and I mostly forgot to move my feet. "People are staring," I said.

"You're beautiful. _I'm_ staring." Edward trailed his fingertips over the top lace trim of my dress for the thousandth time. It turned out that he did indeed appreciate the dress's neckline.

"I'm supposed to change into a traveling outfit or something," I said a bit fuzzily. The details were too much for me to keep straight. I'd been depending on Alice to make sure I didn't forget anything. But as I glanced around the room, she was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Alice?"

Edward closed his eyes a moment, I supposed in search of his sister. "Ah. Esme saw her and Jasper sneak out after the toast."

"Sneak out? Why?"

Edward cracked a crooked grin at me. "Because I rather overwhelmed Jasper's delicate sensibilities earlier when I removed the garter from your leg, and he could no longer stand to wait," Edward answered.

I remained puzzled but just as I was about to ask another question, Alice appeared. The careful finger-waves that had been set into her short hair earlier were gone, and in their stead was a more rocked-out 'do that suited her equally well.

"Come on." She took hold of my arm in a death-grip as though worried she'd have to physically pry me away from Edward. "Time to pack up for the honeymoon!" And with that, the moxie little sprite dragged me up the stairs.

Even my human ears could hear the party going on below as I stood in Alice's room, watching her flutter from closet to dresser and back again.

I could hear Jessica Stanley's drunken guffaw, and didn't bother to ask Alice if Jessica was drunk on champagne or Jasper's help. The music played on and people laughed and said farewells, oblivious to the fact that they were in the company of vampires or werewolves or massive bouts of preternatural tension that could explode in some kind of mythic war at any moment.

"Okay, Official Sister," Alice said, zipping up a surprisingly modest sized suitcase. "I think this is everything you'll need."

"Is my husband in there?" I joked with a limp smile.

_Husband._

I hadn't realized I would take to calling Edward that like I had in my head over the past hour. I liked it.

"Edward is talking over the implications of our uninvited guest."

"What? With whom? Does he think he can shove me away in a room and-"

"Bella, don't get upset. I'm not there either," Alice shrugged. "This is what you should wear for the trip." She held up some clothes that I ignored. "The matching jacket is right on top in your suitcase. I think you'll like Alaska. You've already met everyone but Irina."

"Am I even going to Alaska? What are they talking about? Is that clock right?" I babbled, my thoughts jumbled and my stomach in knots.

"Of course you are. And you'll want a book for the journey." She disappeared in a blur then reappeared before I could even wonder where she'd gone. In her arms was the stack of books I bought at the Port Angeles book store the day before: my freshman reading list.

I crossed over to her lamp table and picked up Mary Shelley's _Frankenstein_.

"She was your age when that was first published, you know," Alice said. "I'll ship the rest to you."

With a shrug, I tossed the paperback at my suitcase. I was expressly determined not to be distracted from my annoyance at being left out or shielded or whatever was going on.

At that moment, the door opened and the very subject of my thoughts came striding briskly in with Jasper behind him. He opened his mouth to speak, then paused and looked at me for a moment.

I stared back, and watched as a breathtaking smile slowly unfurled on his face.

"Hi," I said meekly, forgetting the irritation and suddenly feeling shy in the hold of his vibrant eyes.

"Hi," he repeated.

Funny, how in the midst of all of the hustle and bustle and imminent war or fake helicopter crash, that a giddy feeling of jubilant love deep in my stomach still danced there for him.

Edward blinked once slowly from across the room, just watching me for a moment, and I stared right back.

His bowtie had been unknotted and left limp around the still crisp shirt collar. Two buttons were open at his throat, and the jacket was unbuttoned. And somehow, he managed to look relaxed.

No, _more_ than relaxed.

He looked _happy_.

I smiled back, and in an instant he was across the room and holding my hand.

"I'll go check on the departing guests," Alice said quietly before flitting out of the room with Jasper's hand in hers.

I gazed up at Edward, foolishly trying to read his inscrutable face. "Will you kiss me?"

Edward took a deep breath and pulled me into his arms, resting his chin atop my head while he spoke.

"Why start denying you now?" Edward asked.

His cool lips found mine, and when I pulled myself into him, he didn't pause or pull away. He let me cling to him and he kissed me with a new kind of fervor that felt like a new kind of fever.

My mind flashed back to the time in the woods when I'd scratched my palm and he bandaged my hand and kissed over the wound.

It hadn't bothered him at all.

Therefore, it quickly occurred to me that for quite some time, his resistance to our physical relationship was based solely on the fact that we weren't married.

And now we were.

And now there was just no reason to stop.

His icy mouth left my lips, but only to travel to the side of my neck and then the center of my throat. I felt his fingers graze up to the back of my neck, then into my hair.

I heard the tiny clicks and clacks of hair pins falling to the floor while he carried on at my collar bone and shoulders with his lips.

I was fairly certain my knees gave way a while ago, but it didn't matter, because he held me up and angled my body in ways that suited his own.

"Can we?" I panted. "Right now?"

Edward didn't answer me with words, instead my back arched and he supported my weight with one hand and kissed down until he reached my modest cleavage.

I made an embarrassing noise, and I felt his breathing stop. No longer was his cool breath ghosting along my skin with the rest of him.

"Don't stop," I urged him on, and then his face turned to the side, his cheek resting against my chest.

He was listening to my heart, and it was the very last thing I wanted on his mind right now.

"No," I whispered.

He lifted his head, and I expected to see sad, unwilling eyes, but I didn't.

There was a darker shade swirled deeply in the topaz, and he lifted one eyebrow at me.

"The days for this are numbered," he said.

"Thank god," I murmured back.

He sighed heavily then did something Edward had never done before. His tongue ran from my cleavage to my collarbone and I turned into dead weight in his arms.

I heard him laugh, slow and soft, and I wound my fingers in his hair, pulling him up to kiss me.

"Dammit," he muttered, just before I was able to get my lips to his.

Suddenly, I was upright and Edward ran his hand down the back of my hair, trying to smooth it while I made a sound between the words "what" and "no".

Then the door opened.

Jessica Stanley stumbled in with Mike Newton directly behind her; both of them looking a little disheveled themselves.

"Hey—oh! Whoa! This isn't the bathroom," Mike said.

"It's the honeymoon," Jessica chortled. "Wow. Bella. Nice."

"Oh my gosh," I muttered, trying to hide my red face in Edwards side, who must've enjoyed this because he actually dodged so I couldn't hide behind him.

"Congratulations. This is like the best party in the history of Forks," Mike said, and Edward reached out to shake his hand.

"Yeah. _Congratulations_," Jessica repeated to me, then gave a not-so-discreet thumbs-up as she jerked her head not very subtly in Edward's direction.

Or in the direction of his lap.

Oh.

That must've been why he wouldn't let me hide behind him. He wanted to hide behind me.

"Uh, thanks," I said.

"Sucks about the weather, but then you know, I figured the indoor thing was so much more Bella," Jessica said. "I mean, you slipped going down the aisle _indoors_; can you imagine in the drizzle? And anyway, it's totally _The._ _Event._ down there. I heard at least ten girls saying they wanted a wedding just like it. Everyone's gonna have pictures of those flowers on their Facebooks tomorrow."

"Yeah, and everybody's following your lead and ditching their shoes to dance barefoot on the flower petals," Mike said, wiggling his toes in the air.

"Yeah, so you're probably better off up here," Jessica giggled. "Normally I'd never say anything, but Tyler's feet are really _ripe_."

"Right. Thanks," I said.

Mike tugged on her arm, but Jessica was undaunted. "I guess you won't be coming back down to the party though, huh? What time's your flight? We can just tell people you got too overcome with honeymoon nerves to stand down there and say bye to everyone."

My mouth opened without producing any sound, so Edward answered for me. "You're a great help, Jessica."

"No problem. I used to cover for my cousin and her boyfriend all the time on holidays when they got 'too nervous' to hang with everybody, too." Jessica not only made air quotes with her fingers, she also whispered her conspiratorial promise so loudly that the party guests had probably all heard it over the music. "I'm a pro at this."

"Oh, god," I muttered while Edward just stared at her in amusement.

"Well, you two have fun," she winked, and while Mike ushered her out, I distinctly heard her say, "Told you so."

"Well. That was humiliating," I mumbled when the door shut behind them.

"But I learned yet another benefit of being married to you," Edward smiled.

"What?" I asked, warily.

"Driving Newton practically insane. That boy has a huge issue with coveting," Edward smirked.

I tugged on Edward's collar. "I don't want to think about Mike Newton right now."

"Good."

"Where were we?" I asked, going for the third button on his shirt.

"We were getting way too carried away, if I recall," he said, brushing my hands away.

"What?" I gasped. "What on earth kind of excuse could you possibly have now?"

"Don't be ridiculous, I'm not making excuses. I'm just saying maybe you wouldn't want to have any more Forks High alumni join us on our ''honeymoon' or your parents, for that matter. Not to mention my nosey family of eavesdroppers."

"Gross."

"Precisely."

"Well then, what would you like to do with me—" I stopped and thought for a moment. "I won't call you Mr. Cullen because that's like everyone in your family, so what will you do with me, _husband_?"

He smiled brightly at me. "Maybe I'd like another dance with my beautiful bride on my wedding day," Edward said.

He put my arms around his neck and I took my place on his feet and he swayed us slowly. Every once in a while he'd whisper the happenings of what was going on downstairs, things his hearing was privy to, into my ear.

"Angela is trying to get Ben to do the Macarena," he said. "It isn't going to happen."

I smiled at the thought of Angela downstairs, smiling and laughing, enjoying Ben in a carefree way that almost, but not quite, made me jealous.

"Sue pulled Charlie out to dance; he's actually not that bad."

"Charlie is dancing?" I bleated out. "_Actual_ dancing? With steps? Not just standing in place and waving side to side?"

"Two whole steps. He's counting them out as he dances!" Edward laughed lightly at me. "He gets along quite well with Sue."

"Yes, they've always had a friendly acquaintance thing," I shrugged.

"Quite friendly."

"Yeah—wait. Wait. Does Charlie…_like_ Sue?"

"Sue's lonely since Harry's death," Edward said slowly, and I could tell, even from up here, he was in their thoughts.

"Wow," I mumbled. "Are they…"

"That wouldn't be fair, Bella. Besides, do you really want to know?"

"I want to know Charlie's happy," I ventured slowly. "But that's all."

"I think… Charlie is going to be very happy."

"Okay… good. Were you having some kind of summit meeting without me?" I changed the subject, hoping for a real answer.

Edward pulled away from me just enough to peer down into my eyes for a moment.

"You said you wanted to change clothes, so I was catching up with the situation." He ran his hands up and down my back, allowing his arms to reach to their fullest length, meaning his hands enjoyed a caress of my hips and bottom. "But I'm glad you still have the dress on. I like it."

My heart pounded against his chest, trying to break in.

"Ah, and the—ah- situation?"

"The family is discreetly taking turns running concentric circles around the area."

I tilted my head to one side and peered at him.

"Why?" I asked slowly in one long, drawn-out syllable.

"To make sure no one was traveling with Gianna. Or tracking her, rather. She mentioned that Demitri preceded her as far as Utah. But right now, as far as she knows, she's alone. However, if the Volturi are close by, we need to know. Alice thinks not. She sees Gianna sliding her passport through a self check-in kiosk at the airport and discovering that she has been booked to Florence via Chicago."

"Jake didn't stick around for cake."

"No. Leah got wind of his return and nabbed him for a word before he could run off again."

I actually felt my face drain of color.

"In _case_ he takes off again," Edward corrected upon seeing my reaction. "He doesn't plan to. Jacob means to stick around and protect you from me."

Half-heartedly changing the subject, I asked if they'd found any sign of _when_ the Volturi were planning to drop in.

"We've found no sign of anything but the Pack. Last time Carlisle stopped in, he said he scented five different wolves running their boundary. Jake must've filled Sam in as soon as he left here. Seth says they're on the alert for any new vampires in the area, but there's been nothing."

"Seth stayed?"

"He's come and gone a few times. Kid's a bundle of energy."

"Hmmm," I hummed against his chest and closed my eyes; with the strategic debriefing done for the time being my head swam with visions of darting vampires and wolves.

"Mike and Jessica are still in the upstairs bathroom. Esme isn't going to be happy about _that _mess."

"Oh, ick!" I laughed. The tension was broken just like that.

"I won't even tell you what happened in the pantry."

I knew Edward was distracting me, but I let him. To dwell on the intrigue and all the impending plans would surely leave me in a panicked ball of nerves. So I let his voice and the small, light-hearted tidbits of information from downstairs soothe me, distract me.

"Deputy Mark thought the caviar was boysenberries. He vomited in the east hedge."

As twilight descended on the house, the sound of the door opening and closing and of Esme and Carlisle telling people to drive safely became more common.

"It seems Renee has celebrated a bit too much," he said, nearly wincing. "Phil is coaxing her into going back to the hotel… he's promised her you'll call as soon as we return."

"But there won't be a return," I whispered.

"She's leaving now, Bella."

"Okay," I said, my voice cracking.

"Do you want to say goodbye again—"

"No! No. This is… just…"

And then I was crying right into his fancy tuxedo shirt.

"She's gone," he murmured, and we were no longer dancing, but he cradled and rocked me back and forth while I cried.

I cried for Renee, and her naivety to the whole situation and how I felt some kind of rip in my stomach the moment Edward said she had left.

I cried for what I knew that she didn't. That the next phone call concerning me that she got would be to report my death.

Edward murmured the names of each guest walking out the door, a slow trickle that picked up pace over time while I alternately cried or sniffled, saying a final good bye to each of them.

Edward didn't ask again if I was okay or if I wanted to go downstairs, he let me drip tears on his shirt and say goodbye, the whole time looking as if his own heart were breaking.

"I'm sorry," I said, wiping at my face.

"Don't be sorry. Take as long as you need. You can take forever."

"My forever," I said, sniffling back a sob, "is going to be much happier than this."

"I should hope so," Edward smiled in a brave way that almost teased, and I smiled back through my almost-broken heart and flood of tears.

"I want you to know," I said, "that all of that, wasn't as hard as losing you. Just so you're sure. So you know."

He kind of winced then nodded slowly.

"I didn't say that to make you feel bad. I told you so you know I'm sure. I've made the right choice."

"I just hate that there had to be a choice at all. Most people don't have to make such sacrifices just to-"

"Most people don't get to have a love like this, either."

Edward's eyes snapped to mine, and he was silent for a moment, then his fingers swiftly swiped under my eyelids, sweeping away the tears.

"That, Isabella Cullen," he said, "is a very good point." He softly kissed my eyelids and brows.

* * *

_Author's note: Hi, I just wanted to remind everyone that this story is a few weeks ahead over on A Different Forest. You can find it under **jandco **on the "Storytelling" page at www [dot] adifferentforest [dot] com and for tweets on updates here at FanFiction or at A Different Forest, you can follow this story on twitter: HighNoon__


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